adj

• (of a person) Of comparatively small height.
  "Nhung Ngo had the shortest legs at Site-43. She was the shortest member of staff, two inches beneath the positively elfin Delfina Ibanez, and yet Lillian found her inexplicably difficult to shake. Power-walking down the halls didn't do the trick, as it always did when Wettle-dodging, since the diminutive headshrink kept disappearing into commissaries or service corridors or even other people's offices and emerging, smiling, in front of her."
• (followed by for) Of a word or phrase, constituting an abbreviation (for another) or shortened form (of another).
  ""Phone" is short for "telephone" and "asap" short for "as soon as possible"."
• (cricket, of a fielder or fielding position) that is relatively close to the batsman.
• (cricket, of a ball) bowled so that it bounces relatively far from the batsman.

adv

• (cricket, of the manner of bounce of a cricket ball) Relatively far from the batsman and hence bouncing higher than normal; opposite of full.
• (finance) With a negative ownership position.
  "We went short most finance companies in July."

noun

• (baseball) A shortstop.
  "Jones smashes a grounder between third and short."
• (finance) A short seller.
  "The market decline was terrible, but the shorts were buying champagne."
• (finance) A short sale or short position.
  "He closed out his short at a modest loss after three months."
• (phonetics) A short sound, syllable, or vowel.
  "If we compare the nearest conventional shorts and longs in English, as in ‘bit’ and ‘beat’, ‘not’ and ‘naught’, we find that the short vowels are generally wide (i, ɔ), the long narrow (i, ɔ), besides being generally diphthongic as well."

verb

• (transitive) To cause a short circuit in (something).
  "You should short the poles of the capacitor to discharge it before you work on it."
• (intransitive, of an electrical circuit) To short circuit.
• (transitive, informal) To provide with an amount smaller than that agreed or labeled; to shortchange.
  "This is the third time I've caught them shorting us."
• (transitive, business) To sell something, especially securities, that one does not own at the moment for delivery at a later date in hopes of profiting from a decline in the price; to sell short.