short
adjective
uk/ʃɔːt/ us [ not before a noun ]
not having enough of something that you need:
be short of sth We are very short of staff and if we face a major incident we'll be stretched.
be short on sth The Budget was short on announcements about personal taxes.
leave sth short of sth The rocky economy has left the state so short of money that it must cut spending.
[ not before a noun ]
not available or not large enough in number or amount:
The most common ways of ending an interview are saying that time is short.
Those from well-off homes tend to be spendthrift even when money is short.
less than a particular amount:
short of sth The charity raised just short of €7m last year.
STOCK MARKET
used to describe the selling of shares that you have borrowed, hoping that their price will fall before you buy them back and return them to their owner, making a profit:
In a short sale, an investor can sell stock he doesn't own, hoping to buy the shares at a cheaper price later on.
used to describe a shorter form of a name or word:
short for sth Ami is short for artificial machine intelligence.
for short Keep an eye on Canada's Northern Telecom, Nortel for short.
at short notice (US also on short notice)
with little warning:
Many start-up companies need the freedom to hire and fire staff at short notice.
in short supply
not available in large amounts or numbers:
Temporary workers are in short supply.
If you can offer talents that are in short supply, you are in a strong position.
short
adverb
uk/ʃɔːt/ us STOCK MARKET
if you sell shares short, you sell shares that you have borrowed, hoping that their price will fall before you buy them back and return them to their owner, making a profit:
The group's conservative growth portfolio isn't allowed to sell stocks short.
A popular hedge fund move is to go short.
go short on sth Speculators are going short on the Hong Kong dollar.
run short
if you run short of something, you have too little of it left:
The bank has been plagued for months by speculation that it is running short of capital.
if something runs short, there is little of it left:
Time is for a deal to get done.
In two months food will run short.
short
verb [ T ]
uk/ʃɔːt/ us STOCK MARKET
to sell shares that you have borrowed, hoping that their price will fall before you buy them back and return them to their owner, so that you make a profit:
As many as 27% of the company's shares have been shorted.