[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

short \short\, a. compar. shorter; superl. shortest. oe.
   short, schort, as. scort, sceort; akin to ohg. scurz, icel.
   skorta to be short of, to lack, and perhaps to e. shear, v.
   t. cf. shirt.
   1. not long; having brief length or linear extension; as, a
      short distance; a short piece of timber; a short flight.
      1913 webster

            the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch
            himself on it.                        --isa. xxviii.
                                                  20.
      1913 webster

   2. not extended in time; having very limited duration; not
      protracted; as, short breath.
      1913 webster

            the life so short, the craft so long to learn.
                                                  --chaucer.
      1913 webster

            to short absense i could yield.       --milton.
      1913 webster

   3. limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty; as,
      a short supply of provisions, or of water.
      1913 webster

   4. insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied; scantily
      furnished; lacking; not coming up to a resonable, or the
      ordinary, standard; -- usually with of; as, to be short of
      money.
      1913 webster

            we shall be short in our provision.   --shak.
      1913 webster

   5. deficient; defective; imperfect; not coming up, as to a
      measure or standard; as, an account which is short of the
      trith.
      1913 webster

   6. not distant in time; near at hand.
      1913 webster

            marinell was sore offended
            that his departure thence should be so short.
                                                  --spenser.
      1913 webster

            he commanded those who were appointed to attend him
            to be ready by a short day.           --clarendon.
      1913 webster

   7. limited in intellectual power or grasp; not comprehensive;
      narrow; not tenacious, as memory.
      1913 webster

            their own short understandings reach
            no farther than the present.          --rowe.
      1913 webster

   8. less important, efficaceous, or powerful; not equal or
      equivalent; less than; -- with of.
      1913 webster

            hardly anything short of an invasion could rouse
            them again to war.                    --landor.
      1913 webster

   9. abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant; as, he gave a short
      answer to the question.
      1913 webster

   10. cookery breaking or crumbling readily in the mouth;
       crisp; as, short pastry.
       1913 webster

   11. metal brittle.
       1913 webster

   note: 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.
         1913 webster

   12. stock exchange engaging or engaged to deliver what is
       not possessed; as, short contracts; to be short of stock.
       see the shorts, under short, n., and to sell short,
       under short, adv.
       1913 webster

   note: 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.
         1913 webster

   13. phon. not prolonged, or relatively less prolonged, in
       utterance; -- opposed to long, and applied to vowels or
       to syllables. in english, the long and short of the same
       letter are not, in most cases, the long and short of the
       same sound; thus, the i in ill is the short sound, not of
       i in isle, but of ee in eel, and the e in pet is the
       short sound of a in pate, etc. see quantity, and guide
       to pronunciation, sectsect22, 30.
       1913 webster

   note: 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.
         1913 webster

   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.
      1913 webster
see also:
shorter shortest shirt short long quantity 
at short notice short rib short suit to come short to cut short 
to fall short come cut 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

shortest
     adj : most direct; "took the shortest and most direct route to
           town" syn: short
see also:
short 

Shortest >> S Words
Shortest, definition of term: Shortest
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