Short

subs. (gaming).—1.  A card (all below the eight) prepared so that nothing above the eight can be cut: by which the chances of an honour turning up are reduced to two to one: cf. LONG and BRIEF.

  1837.  R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends (Sir Rupert the Fearless) (1862), 253.

  2.  (common).—In pl. = knee breeches; small clothes.

  1837.  DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, xxxiii. A little emphatic man with a bald head and drab SHORTS.

  1888.  BESANT, Fifty Years Ago, 49. The little old gentleman … follows him in black SHORTS and white silk stockings.

  3.  (stock exchange).—A BEAR (q.v.); one who has ‘sold short,’ and whose interest is to depress the market. As adj. or adv. = (1) not in hand when contracting to deliver; or (2) unable to meet one’s engagements: e.g., ‘SHORT of Eries, Brighton A’s,’ &c.

  1888.  Daily Telegraph, 13 Oct. The market continued to improve … coupled with SHORTS covering freely.

  1902.  Daily Mail, 17 Nov., 2, 5. Wheat opened steady … SHORTS covering, and light acceptances.

  4.  (school).—In pl. = flannel trousers; CUTS (q.v.).

  Adj. (common).—1.  Unadulterated; NEAT (q.v.). As subs. = ‘a dram [spec. of gin] unlengthened by water’ (GROSE).

  1837.  DICKENS, Pickwick Papers (1857), 388. If you’ll order waiter to deliver him anything SHORT, he won’t drink it off at once, won’t he!—only try him!

  1841.  LEMAN REDE, Sixteen-String Jack, I. 2. Nelly, toddle to the bar, and be continually drawing drops of SHORT.

  1851–61.  H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, i. 54. Saveloys, with a pint of beer or a glass of SHORT, is with them another common week-day dinner.

  1858.  Morning Chronicle, 8 Nov. A young man offered her some coffee, but she said she would prefer something SHORT.

  1858.  A. TROLLOPE, Doctor Thorne, xvii. Come, Jack, let us have a drop of some’at SHORT.

  1883.  Daily Telegraph, 2 July, v. 3. All these are SHORT drinks—that is to say, drams.

  1900.  F. E. GRAINGER (‘Headon Hill’), Caged! xvii. She wanted him to have a drop of ‘something SHORT,’ which he refused.

  3.  (commercial).—‘A term used by cashiers of banks, in asking how a cheque is to be paid, ‘How will you take it?’ i.e., in gold or notes? If in notes, ‘Long or SHORT?’ i.e., in notes for small or large amounts (HOTTEN).

  4.  (old).—Hard up; ‘SHORT of cash.’

  1603.  DEKKER, The Batchelars Banquet, iv. They … if their father keepe them SHORT, will find some other friends that shall affoord it them.

  1605.  CHAPMAN, &c. Eastward Ho, v. And I not able to relieve her, neither, being kept so SHORT by my husband.

  1608.  JOHN DAY, Law Trickes, ii.

  1700.  FARQUHAR, The Constant Couple, ii. v. I am very SHORT … at present.

  1857.  REV. E. BRADLEY (‘Cuthbert Bede’), The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman, II. v. I wrote to her and said, ‘I’m very SHORT; please to send me two ponies’; meaning, of course, that I wanted fifty pound.

  PHRASES AND COLLOQUIALISMS.—TO COME SHORT HOME = to be imprisoned; TO BITE OFF SHORT (tailors’) = to dismiss abruptly, or refuse curtly; TO CUT IT SHORT = to be as brief as may be; SHORT AND SWEET = a jesting regret, or sarcastic comment: frequently with the addition, LIKE A DONKEY’S GALLOP; THE SHORT AND LONG (or THE SHORT AND PLAIN) = (1) the whole truth: now usually THE LONG AND THE SHORT: also (2) a couple of persons, one of dwarf and one of giant stature walking together; SHORT AND THICK, LIKE A WELSHMAN’S PRICK = a person very short and broad in the beam; SHORT OF PUFF = winded; SHORT (or SHORT-WAISTED) = crusty, irritable; SHORT OF A SHEET = crazy; FOR SHORT = for brevity’s sake; ‘A SHORT horse is soon curried’ = a simple matter is soon disposed of; SHORT COMMONS = not too much to eat; SHORT-LIMBERED = touchy; A SHORT SHRIFT AND A LONG ROPE = instant despatch; A SHORT MEMORY = forgetfulness.

  [?].  An Interlude of the Four Elements [HALLIWELL].

  1383.  CHAUCER, The Canterbury Tales [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 123. We have, this is THE SHORT AND PLAIN (LONG AND SHORT of it).]

  1577.  STANYHURST, Description of Ireland [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 599. A man is said to be in talk, SHORT AND SWEET].

  1592.  SHAKESPEARE, Midsummer Night’s Dream, iv. 2. The SHORT AND THE LONG is, our play is preferred. Ibid. (1596), Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 1. He loves your wife; there’s THE SHORT AND THE LONG. Ibid. (1600), As You Like It, iii. 5. I will be bitter with him and passing SHORT.

  1602.  MIDDLETON, Blurt, Master-Constable, i. 2. The rogue’s made of piecrust, he’s so SHORT.

  1611.  JONSON, Cataline, ii. 1.

  1611.  The Court and Times of James the First, i. 138. In which service two or three of them CAME SHORT HOME.

  c. 1617.  HOWELL, Familiar Letters, I. ii. 15. The French and English Ambassadors, interceding for a Peace, had a SHORT Answer of Philip II.

  1636.  HEYWOOD, Love’s Mistress, iv. 1. 2 Swa. The SHORT AND THE LONG on’t is, she’s an ugly creature.

  1809.  MALKIN, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 219. Don Alphonso CUT HIM SHORT in his explanation.

  1837.  R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, ‘The Brothers of Birchington.’

  1870.  Washington Watchman [DE VERE]. My little gal’s name is Helen, but we call her Heelen FOR SHORT.