The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it. Isa. xxviii. 20.

The life so short, the craft so long to learn. Chaucer.

To short absense I could yield. Milton.

We shall be short in our provision. Shak.

Marinell was sore offended
That his departure thence should be so short. Spenser.

He commanded those who were appointed to attend him to be ready by a short day. Clarendon.

Their own short understandings reach
No farther than the present. Rowe.

Hardly anything short of an invasion could rouse them again to war. Landor.

* Metals that are brittle when hot are called (?)ot- short; as, cast iron may be hot-short, owing to the presence of sulphur. Those that are brittle when cold are called cold-short; as, cast iron may be cold-short, on account of the presence of phosphorus.

* In mercantile transactions, a note or bill is sometimes made payable at short sight, that is, in a little time after being presented to the payer.

* Short is much used with participles to form numerous self-explaining compounds; as, short-armed, short- billed, short-fingered, short-haired, short- necked, short-sleeved, short-tailed, short- winged, short-wooled, etc.

At short notice, in a brief time; promptly. -- Short rib (Anat.), one of the false ribs. -- Short suit (Whist), any suit having only three cards, or less than three. R. A. Proctor. -- To come short, To cut short, To fall short, etc. See under Come, Cut, etc.

The short and the long is, our play is preferred. Shak.

The first remove above bran is shorts. Halliwell.

If we compare the nearest conventional shorts and longs in English, as in "bit" and "beat," "not" and "naught," we find that the short vowels are generally wide, the long narrow, besides being generally diphthongic as well. Hence, originally short vowels can be lengthened and yet kept quite distinct from the original longs. H. Sweet.

In short, in few words; in brief; briefly. -- The long and the short, the whole; a brief summing up. -- The shorts (Stock Exchange), those who are unsupplied with stocks which they contracted to deliver.

He was taken up very short, and adjudged corrigible for such presumptuous language. Howell.

To sell short (Stock Exchange), to sell, for future delivery, what the party selling does not own, but hopes to buy at a lower rate.