shortning.html - See: CAUGHT SHORT, FALL SHORT, FOR SHORT, IN BRIEF or IN SHORT, IN SHORT ORDER, IN SHORT SUPPLY, MAKE SHORT WORK OF, RUN SHORT, SELL SHORT, THE LONG AND THE SHORT.

shortning.html - {n.} A short distance; a short trip. * /The Scoutmaster said that it was just a short haul to the lake./ * /The man from the moving company said they did not make short hauls, so we hired a truck to move our furniture three blocks to our new house./ Contrast: LONG HAUL.

shortning.html - {adj.} Brief and to the point. * /Henry's note to his father was short and sweet. He wrote, "Dear Dad, please send me $5. Love, Henry."/

shortning.html - {n.} The worst or most unpleasant part. * /The new boy got the short end of it because all the comfortable beds in the dormitory had been taken before he arrived./ * /The girls who served refreshments at the party got the short end of it. When everybody had been served, there was no cake left for them./

shortning.html - {adj.} Panting and wheezing. * /He ran up six flights of stairs so rapidly that he was short of breath for several minutes./

shortning.html - {adj. phr.} 1. Less or worse than. * /Don't do anything short of your best./ 2. Not having enough. * /We did not buy anything because we were short of money./ * /The girls were asked to wait on tables because the kitchen was short of help./