shortBrE /ʃɔːt/ NAmE /ʃɔːrt/► SEE ALLat (very) short noticebe caught/taken shortbe in short supplybe on/have a short fusebe short and sweetbe/run short of sthbring/pull sb up shortcome shortcut sb shortcut sth shortfall short of sthfor shortget/have sb by the short hairsgive sb/sth short shriftget short shriftgo short (of sth)in shortin short orderin the short runlittle/nothing short of sthmake short work of sth/sba short back and sidesa short cut (to sth)short of sth/of doing sthwin, lose, etc. by a short heada few, two, etc. bricks short of a loaddraw the short strawthe long and (the) short of itto cut a long story shortfull/short measuresell sb shortsell yourself/sb/sth shortstop shortin the long/medium/short term(as) thick as two short planks ●at (very) short ˈnotice ( at a moment’s ˈnotice) with very little warning; without much time to prepare一接到通知就；没有多少时间准备◆In this job you have to be able to work weekends at short notice. 干这份工作你必须能够随时准备在周末工作。●be caught/taken ˈshort (BrE, informal) suddenly need to go to the toilet in a place where it is difficult to find one（在一时找不到厕所的地方）突然要上厕所，内急●be in ˌshort supˈplynot be enough of sth; be scarce供应不足；短缺；紧缺◆During the war, many things were in short supply. 战争时期许多东西都紧缺。●be on/have a short ˈfuse (informal) be likely to get angry easily, because you are tired, stressed, etc.（因为疲惫、压力大等）易动怒，脾气暴躁，动辄发火◆Your father’s having trouble at work, so his temper’s on a short fuse today. 你父亲工作上遇到了点麻烦，所以今天动不动就发火。◆Be careful what you say to the director. She has a very short fuse. 跟主管说话你可要当心，她容易发脾气。NOTE A fuse is a piece of string or paper which is lit to make a bomb explode. * fuse 指炸弹的引信或导火索。●be ˌshort and ˈsweet (informal) last for a short time, but still be good or pleasant; be good because it is short短暂愉快；简明扼要◆The patient is very tired, so make your visit short and sweet. 病人很累了，你们探视时间要适可而止。◆The chairman promised to make the introduction short and sweet. 主席保证说只简短地作个介绍。●be/run short of sthnot have enough of sth; only have a small amount of sth left不足；缺乏；所剩不多◆We’re running short of butter. Can you get some more today? 黄油快没了，你今天能去买点吗？◆I’m a bit short of money at the moment. 这阵子我手头有点紧。OPPbe well off for sth●bring/pull sb up ˈshortmake sb stop what they are doing because sth attracts their attention or because they suddenly realize sth使某人突然停下来；使一下子怔住◆His criticism of my work pulled me up short, because I thought he was pleased with it. 他批评我的工作，我一下子愣住了，我本以为他很满意呢。●come ˈshort (SAfrE, informal) have an accident; get into trouble发生事故；陷入麻烦◆Kim broke her collarbone and Lisa and a couple others also came short. 金摔断了锁骨，莉萨和其他一些人也都出了状况。◆We’ve seen a lot of IT companies come short through aggressive expansion. 我们目睹过许多 IT 公司由于迅猛扩张而陷入困境。●cut sb ˈshortstop sb speaking打断某人的话◆She was just about to say who had got the job, but I cut her short and asked her to keep it secret. 她刚要说谁得到了那份工作，我阻止了她，让她保守秘密。●cut sth ˈshortmake sth end before the natural time; interrupt sth终止；中断；打断◆We’ll have to cut our stay short, I’m afraid. My husband’s father is seriously ill. 恐怕我们得早点走了，我公公病得厉害。◆Our conversation was cut short by the arrival of the teacher. 老师来了，我们的谈话中断了。●fall ˈshort of sthfail to reach the standard that you expected or need没有达到（预期）；不符合（标准）◆Your performance at work has fallen short of what is required in this company. 你的工作表现没有达到本公司的要求。●for ˈshortas a shorter way of saying sth简称；缩写为◆Her name’s Joanna, but her friends call her ‘Jo’ for short. 她叫乔安娜，朋友们简称她“乔”。●get/have sb by the short ˈhairs ( get/have sb by the short and ˈcurlies) (informal) get/have sb in a position where they must agree to what you want任意摆布某人；使某人就范；完全操纵某人◆We can’t go on strike because the boss will simply hire new staff. He’s got us by the short and curlies. 我们不能罢工，因为那样老板就会去雇新员工，他操纵着我们的命运。NOTEShort and curlies refers to the hairs on a person’s body. * short and curlies 指人体的毛发。●give sb/sth short ˈshrift●get short ˈshriftgive sb/sth/get little attention or sympathy不重视（或同情）；不受重视（或同情）◆Mrs Jones gave my suggestion very short shrift. I was quite surprised. 琼斯夫人对我的建议态度冷淡，我觉得很吃惊。◆When Ann complained about the toilets, she got very short shrift. 安投诉洗手间的问题，却受到了怠慢。ORIGINShrift was the act of confessing your crimes, etc. to a priest and being forgiven. If a person was given short shrift they were only allowed a short time to do this between being found guilty and being executed or punished. * shrift 指向牧师忏悔自己的罪行并请求原谅的行为。give short shrift 指在被判有罪和被处决或处罚之前只有很短的时间去作上述的忏悔。●go ˈshort (of sth)not have as much of sth as you need缺少；不足◆Give the boy some money. I don’t want him to go short. 给孩子点零花钱，我不想让他手头太紧。●in ˈshortin a few words; briefly简言之；总之◆This picture has been badly damaged, and besides, it’s not signed: in short, it’s worthless. 这幅画已经严重受损，而且也没有署名：一句话，它一文不值。●in ˌshort ˈorderquickly and without trouble迅速地；毫不拖延◆A decision will have to be made in short order if the new system is to be in place by September. 要使新系统 9 月份以前到位，必须迅速作出决定。●in the ˈshort runconcerning the immediate future短期内；眼下◆In the short run, unemployment may fall. 短期内，失业率有可能下降。OPPin the long run●little/nothing short of ˈsthused when you are saying that sth is almost true, or is equal to sth可以说是；无异于；近乎◆Last year’s figures were little short of disastrous. 去年的数字简直是灾难性的。◆The transformation has been nothing short of a miracle. 这种变化堪称奇迹。●make short ˈwork of sth/sbdo or finish sth very quickly; defeat sb very easily迅速处理（或完成）某事；轻松地打败某人◆The children certainly made short work of the chocolate biscuits! 孩子们当然三下五除二就把巧克力饼干给消灭了！◆The champion made very short work of the challenger in the title fight. 在夺冠赛中冠军轻松击败了挑战者。●a short back and ˈsides (BrE) a conventional haircut for men where the hair is cut very short around the ears and above the neck男子盖式发型（耳周和颈上部剪得很短）●a ˌshort ˈcut (to sth)1.a shorter way to go to a place捷径；近路◆I usually take a short cut behind the post office to get to college. 我通常走邮局后面的一条近路去学校。2.a way of doing sth more quickly or easily（做某事的）快捷办法，捷径◆Producing good cheese takes time — there are really no short cuts. 要酿制出质量上乘的奶酪需要很长时间 － 的确没有捷径可走。●short of sth/of doing sthwithout sth or without doing sth; unless sth happens没有；如果不；除非◆Short of a miracle, we’re certain to lose. 除非发生奇迹，否则我们输定了。◆Short of asking her to leave (= and we don’t want to do that), there’s not a lot we can do about the situation. 除非请她走，否则我们也没有太多办法应付这种局面了。●win, lose, etc. by a short ˈheadwin, lose, etc. but by only a little以微弱的优势取胜（或以极小的劣势失利）◆The competition was tough but the winner by a short head was John Smith. 竞争非常激烈，最后约翰 ∙ 史密斯以微弱的优势获胜。ORIGINThis expression refers to a close finish in horse racing.这个表达法原指赛马的结果难分难解。●a few, two, etc. ˌbricks short of a ˈload ( a few, two, etc. ˌsandwiches short of a ˈpicnic) (informal) (of a person人) not very intelligent; slightly crazy愚蠢；不很聪明◆If you ask me, I think he must be one or two sandwiches short of a picnic!要我说，我觉得他脑子肯定缺根弦！OPPall thereNOTE The structure a few, two, etc.…short of a(n)… is often used to make new idioms, for example a few cards short of a deck, a few letters short of an alphabet. * a few, two, etc....short of a(n)... 这个结构常可用于构成新的习语，如 a few cards short of a deck 和 a few letters short of an alphabet。●ˌdraw the short ˈstraw (BrE) (NAmEget the ˌshort end of the ˈstick) be the person in a group who is chosen or forced to do sth unpleasant that nobody wants to do抽到倒霉签；被派做苦差事◆You’ve drawn the short straw, I’m afraid. You’re going to have to work on New Year’s Day.恐怕你抽到了下下签。元旦你得来上班。●the long and (the) ˈshort of itused to say what the basic facts of a situation are总而言之；总的情况◆The examiners discussed your paper for at least an hour, but I’m afraid the long and the short of it is that you have failed.考官们对你的试卷至少讨论了一个小时，但是恐怕你最后还是不及格。●to cut a long story ˈshort (BrE) (NAmEto make a long story ˈshort) (spoken) used when a speaker is not going to describe all the details of sth, only the final result长话短说；简而言之◆‘What happened at the meeting?’ ‘Well, to cut a long story short, ten people are going to lose their jobs.’“会上讲了什么事？”“嗯，简单说来，有十个人要失业。”●full/short ˈmeasurethe whole of sth or less of sth than you expect or should have足量／不足量◆We experienced the full measure of their hospitality.我们受到了他们的盛情款待。◆The concert only lasted an hour, so we felt we were getting short measure.音乐会仅仅持续了一个小时，让我们有种不尽兴的感觉。●sell sb ˈshortcheat sb by giving them less than they have paid for卖给某人的东西不够分量；缺斤短两◆He sold us short! We paid for five kilos of mushrooms and only got four!他缺斤短两！我们买了五公斤蘑菇，他却只给了四公斤！●sell yourself/sb/sth ˈshortdescribe yourself/sb/sth as being less good, valuable, etc. than you, etc. really are低估自己／某人／某事物◆Don’t sell yourself short when you go for an interview.去面试的时候不要贬低自己。◆It was a great idea, but you sold it short.真是个好主意，你小瞧它了。●stop ˈshort1. ( stop sb short) suddenly stop doing sth or make sb stop doing sth（使某人）突然停住◆When I read how many people had died, I stopped short and stared in disbelief at the newspaper.读到死了那么多人，我突然停了下来，难以置信地盯着那份报纸。2.(stop short of sth/of doing sth) nearly but not actually do sth, for example because you are afraid or you think it is a bad idea突然停住（没有做某事）；差一点做某事；险些做出某事◆The manager told her that he was unhappy with her work, but he stopped short of dismissing her from her job.经理告诉她，他对她的工作不满意，还差一点要解雇她。●in the ˈlong/ˈmedium/ˈshort termused to describe what will happen a long/medium/short time into the future在长／中／短期内◆In the short term, we can send the refugees food and clothing, but in the long term we must do something about the underlying problems.在短期内，我们可以给难民提供衣食；但长远来看，我们必须解决其根本问题。▸ˌlong-ˈterm, ˌshort-ˈterm
adjective
◆a long-term approach长久之计◆short-term problems近期问题●(as) thick as two short ˈplanks (informal) ( (as) thick as ˈshit⚠, slang) (BrE) (of a person人) very stupid极其愚蠢；笨得要死◆Because she’s a model, people assume she’s as thick as two short planks, but she isn’t.就因为她是个模特，人们都以为她肯定很蠢，其实并不是那样。OPP(as) bright as a buttonNOTEThick is the opposite of thin and can also mean ‘stupid’ in informal language. * thick 是 thin 的反义词，非正式场合使用时也可表示“愚蠢的”。