1. n. a small drink of hard liquor or of beer. I’ll have a short and a pack of cigarettes.
2. mod. having to do with a single drink of undiluted liquor. I’ll take mine short, innkeeper.
3. n. a purchase of drugs that counts or weighs out less than the amount agreed upon. You gave me a short. Fix it now, or this thing goes off accidentally in your ear.
4. tv. to give someone less of something than was agreed upon. They shorted us on the last order, so we switched suppliers.
5. n. a car. (Streets.) Man, that’s some short you got!
6. n. the sale of borrowed shares of stock; a short sale. (Securities markets.) There is a lot of covering of shorts this week. After that the market is in for a steady decline.
7. tv. to sell borrowed stock. (Securities markets.) The way the deficit is running, I’d short the whole market.