■ adjective
1》 of a small length or duration.
↘(of a ball in sport) travelling only a small distance before bouncing.
2》 relatively small in extent.
3》 (of a person) small in height.
4》 ( ~ of/on ) not having enough of (something); lacking or deficient in.
↘in insufficient supply.
5》 (of a person) terse; uncivil.
6》 Phonetics (of a vowel) categorized as ~ with regard to quality and length (e.g. in standard British English the vowel ʊ in good ).
↘ Prosody (of a vowel or syllable) having the lesser of the two recognized durations.
7》 (of odds or a chance) reflecting or representing a high level of probability.
8》 Stock Exchange (of shares or other assets) sold in advance of being acquired.
↘(of a security) maturing at a relatively early date.
9》 (of pastry) containing a high proportion of fat to flour and therefore crumbly.
↘(of clay) having poor plasticity.
■ adverb (in sport) at, to, or over a ~ distance.
↘not as far as the point aimed at.
■ noun
1》 Brit. informal a strong alcoholic drink, especially spirits, served in small measures.
2》 a ~ film as opposed to a feature film.
3》 a ~ sound, vowel, or syllable.
4》 a ~ circuit.
5》 ( ~s ) Stock Exchange ~-dated stocks.
6》 ( ~s ) a mixture of bran and coarse flour.
■ verb ~-circuit.
Phrases
be caught (or Brit. taken ) ~
1》 be put at a disadvantage.
2》 Brit. informal urgently need to urinate or defecate.
a brick ~ of a load (or two sandwiches ~ of a picnic , etc.) informal (of a person) stupid or crazy.
bring (or pull ) someone up ~ cause someone to stop or pause abruptly.
for ~ as an abbreviation or nickname.
get (or have ) someone by the ~ and curlies informal have complete control of a person.
go ~ not have enough of something, especially food.
in ~ to sum up; briefly.
in ~ order chiefly N. Amer. immediately; rapidly.
in the ~ run (or term ) in the near future.
in ~ supply (of a commodity) scarce.
make ~ work of accomplish, consume, or destroy quickly.
~ and sweet brief and pleasant.
~ for an abbreviation or nickname for.
~ of
1》 less than.
2》 not reaching as far as.
3》 without going so far as (some extreme action).
~ of breath panting; ~-winded.
stop ~ stop suddenly or abruptly.
Derivatives
~ish adjective
~ness noun
Origin
OE sceort , of Gmc origin; related to shirt , skirt .