short

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• adjective Having little length; not long.
• adjective Having little height; not tall.
• adjective Extending or traveling not far or not far enough.
• adjective Lasting a brief time.
• adjective Appearing to pass quickly.
• adjective Not lengthy; succinct.
• adjective Rudely brief; abrupt.
• adjective Easily provoked; irascible.
• adjective Inadequate; insufficient.
• adjective Lacking in length or amount.
• adjective Lacking in breadth or scope.
• adjective Deficient in retentiveness.
• adjective Holding a trading position that is inversely related to the price of a security or index.
• adjective Of or relating to a short sale.
• adjective Containing a large amount of shortening; flaky.
• adjective Not ductile; brittle.
• adjective Linguistics Of, relating to, or being a speech sound of relatively brief duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mălus, “evil,” as compared with the same or a similar sound of relatively long duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mālus, “apple tree.”
• adjective Grammar Of, relating to, or being a vowel sound in English, such as the vowel sound (ă) in pat or (oo͝) in put, that is descended from a vowel of brief duration.
• adjective Being of relatively brief duration. Used of a syllable in quantitative prosody.
• adjective Slang Close to the end of a tour of military duty.
• adverb Abruptly; quickly.
• adverb In a rude or curt manner.
• adverb At a point before a given boundary, limit, or goal.
• adverb At a disadvantage.
• adverb By means of a short sale.
• noun Something short, as.
• noun Linguistics A short syllable, vowel, or consonant.
• noun A brief film; a short subject.
• noun A size of clothing less long than the average for that size.
• noun Short trousers extending to the knee or above.
• noun Men's undershorts.
• noun A short sale.
• noun One that sells short.
• noun A byproduct of wheat processing that consists of germ, bran, and coarse meal or flour.
• noun Clippings or trimmings that remain as byproducts in various manufacturing processes, often used to make an inferior variety of the product.
• noun A short circuit.
• noun A malfunction caused by a short circuit.
• noun Baseball A shortstop.
• intransitive verb To cause a short circuit in.
• intransitive verb Informal To give (one) less than one is entitled to; shortchange.
• intransitive verb To short-sell (a security or index).
• intransitive verb To short-circuit.
• idiom (for short) As an abbreviation.