Oxford Essential Dictionary
shorts
noun (plural)
1 short trousers that end above your knees:
a pair of shorts
2 (American) a piece of loose clothing that men wear under their trousers
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
III. short3 BrE AmE noun
[Word Family: noun: ↑short, ↑shortage, ↑shortness, shorts, ↑shorty; verb: ↑shorten, ↑short; adverb: ↑short, ↑shortly; adjective: ↑short]
1. shorts [plural]
a) short trousers ending at or above the knees:
a pair of shorts
tourists in shorts and T-shirts ⇨ ↑Bermuda shorts, ↑cycling shorts
b) especially American English men’s underwear with short legs:
Craig was standing in the kitchen in his shorts. ⇨ ↑boxer shorts, ↑Jockey shorts
2. in short used when you want to give the main point of something:
Carter hoped for greater trust between the two nations, more trade, more cultural exchanges – in short, a genuine peace.
3. for short used as a shorter way of saying a name:
His name’s Maximilian, but we just call him Max for short.
4. [countable] informal a short film shown in the cinema
5. [countable] British English informal a strong alcoholic drink that is not beer or wine, drunk in a small glass SYN shot American English:
Do you fancy a short?
6. [countable] informal a ↑short circuit:
a short in the system
⇨ the long and the short of it at ↑long1(10)
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ film especially British English, movie especially American English a series of images that tell a story and are shown in a cinema or on television: What’s your favourite movie? | It won the award for best foreign film. | a made-for-TV movie
▪ motion picture formal (also picture) a film – used especially by people who make films or by critics: a major Hollywood motion picture | Tell us about your latest picture.
▪ blockbuster informal a very successful film: Steven Spielberg’s latest Hollywood blockbuster
▪ flick informal a film – a very informal use: an action flick
▪ documentary a film that gives detailed information and facts about a particular subject: a documentary on the rain forest
▪ feature film a film made to be shown in cinemas: The book was later made into a full-length feature film starring Sean Penn.
▪ comedy a film intended to make people laugh: Monroe appeared in a number of comedies.
▪ romantic comedy (also romcom British English informal) a film about two people who are in love, which is intended to make the people who watch it feel happy: ‘Notting Hill’ is a romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant.
▪ thriller an exciting film, especially about murder or serious crimes: ‘The Birds’ is a classic Hitchcock thriller.
▪ film noir a film that shows strong feelings of fear or evil and whose characters are often immoral, or these films in general: ‘The Big Sleep’ is a classic Hollywood film noir.
▪ action film/movie a film that has lots of fighting, explosions etc: Stallone’s latest action movie
▪ horror film/movie a frightening film about ghosts, murders etc: She loves watching old horror movies.
▪ western a film with cowboys in it: John Wayne is famous for making westerns.
▪ science fiction film/movie (also sci-fi film/movie informal) a film about imaginary events in the future or in outer space: ‘2001’ is probably the most famous sci-fi movie ever made.
▪ gangster film/movie a film about violent criminals
▪ silent film/movie an old film without any sound: The 1920s were the golden age of silent movies.
▪ an independent film/movie a film made by a small film company
▪ animated film/movie/cartoon a film with characters that are drawn or made using a computer: One of his first animated films was ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’.
▪ anime /ˈænɪmeɪ, -mə/ a type of Japanese animated film, which often has a science fiction story: Miyazaki’s anime film ‘Spirited Away’ became an international success. | an anime character
▪ CGI the use of computers to create characters and images in a film: The film uses CGI. | Disney’s latest CGI movie
▪ short a short film, usually shown before a longer movie in the cinema: an animated short
▪ trailer a series of short scenes from a film or programme, shown in order to advertise it in a cinema, on television etc: We had to sit through all the trailers.
IV. short4 BrE AmE (also short out) verb [intransitive and transitive]
[Word Family: noun: ↑short, ↑shortage, ↑shortness, shorts, ↑shorty; verb: ↑shorten, ↑short; adverb: ↑short, ↑shortly; adjective: ↑short]
to ↑short-circuit, or make something do this:
The toaster shorted and caused a fire.
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
shorts
shorts [shorts] [ʃɔːts] [ʃɔːrts] noun
plural
1. short trousers/pants that end above or at the knee
• a pair of tennis shorts
• He was wearing a T-shirt and shorts.
2. (NAmE) = boxer shorts
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition
shorts / ʃɔːts / / ʃɔːrts / noun [ plural ]
A2 trousers that end above the knee or reach the knee, often worn in hot weather or when playing a sport:
tennis shorts
She put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.
See picture clothes 1
US men's underpants
© Cambridge University Press 2013
Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary
short
I. ADJECTIVE AND ADVERB USES
/ʃɔ:(r)t/
(shorter, shortest)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Please look at category 23 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1.
If something is short or lasts for a short time, it does not last very long.
The announcement was made a short time ago...
How could you do it in such a short period of time?...
Kemp gave a short laugh...
We had a short meeting.
≠ long
ADJ
2.
If you talk about a short hour, day, or year, you mean that it seems to have passed very quickly or will seem to pass very quickly.
For a few short weeks there was peace...
≠ long
ADJ: usu ADJ n
3.
A short speech, letter, or book does not have many words or pages in it.
They were performing a short extract from Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona...
≠ long
ADJ: usu ADJ n
4.
Someone who is short is not as tall as most people are.
I’m tall and thin and he’s short and fat.
...a short, elderly woman with grey hair...
≠ tall
ADJ
5.
Something that is short measures only a small amount from one end to the other.
The city centre and shops are only a short distance away...
His black hair was very short.
≠ long
ADJ
6.
If you are short of something or if it is short, you do not have enough of it. If you are running short of something or if it is running short, you do not have much of it left.
Her father’s illness left the family short of money...
Supplies of everything are unreliable, food is short...
ADJ: v-link ADJ, usu ADJ of n
7.
If someone or something is or stops short of a place, they have not quite reached it. If they are or fall short of an amount, they have not quite achieved it.
He stopped a hundred yards short of the building...
ADJ: v-link ADJ of n
8.
Short of a particular thing means except for that thing or without actually doing that thing.
Short of climbing railings four metres high, there was no way into the garden from this road...
PREP-PHRASE: PREP n/-ing
9.
If something is cut short or stops short, it is stopped before people expect it to or before it has finished.
His glittering career was cut short by a heart attack...
ADV: ADV after v
10.
If a name or abbreviation is short for another name, it is the short version of that name.
Her friend Kes (short for Kesewa) was in tears...
‘O.O.B.E.’ is short for ‘Out Of Body Experience’.
ADJ: v-link ADJ for n
11.
If you have a short temper, you get angry very easily.
...an awkward, self-conscious woman with a short temper.
ADJ
see also short-tempered
12.
If you are short with someone, you speak briefly and rather rudely to them, because you are impatient or angry.
She seemed nervous or tense, and she was definitely short with me.
ADJ: v-link ADJ, usu ADJ with n
13.
If a person or thing is called something for short, that is the short version of their name.
Opposite me was a woman called Jasminder (Jazzy for short)...
PHRASE: usu n PHR
14.
If you go short of something, especially food, you do not have as much of it as you want or need.
Some people may manage their finances badly and therefore have to go short of essentials.
PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR of n
15.
You use in short when you have been giving a lot of details and you want to give a conclusion or summary.
Try tennis, badminton or windsurfing. In short, anything challenging...
PHRASE: PHR with cl
16.
You use nothing short of or little short of to emphasize how great or extreme something is. For example, if you say that something is nothing short of a miracle or nothing short of disastrous, you are emphasizing that it is a miracle or it is disastrous.
The results are nothing short of magnificent...
PHRASE: v-link PHR adj/n [emphasis]
17.
If you say that someone is, for example, several cards short of a full deck or one sandwich short of a picnic, you think they are stupid, foolish, or crazy. (INFORMAL)
PHRASE: v-link PHR
18.
If someone or something is short on a particular good quality, they do not have as much of it as you think they should have.
The proposals were short on detail.
PHRASE: V inflects [disapproval]
19.
If someone stops short of doing something, they come close to doing it but do not actually do it.
He stopped short of explicitly criticizing the government...
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR -ing/n
20.
If workers are put on short time, they are asked to work fewer hours than the normal working week, because their employer can not afford to pay them a full time wage.
Workers across the country have been put on short time because of the slump in demand...
Most manufacturers have had to introduce short-time working.
PHRASE: on PHR, PHR n
21.
If something pulls you up short or brings you up short, it makes you suddenly stop what you are doing.
The name on the gate pulled me up short.
PHRASE: V inflects
22.
If you make short work of someone or something, you deal with them or defeat them very quickly. (INFORMAL)
Agassi made short work of his opponent.
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n
23.
short of breath: see breath
at short notice: see notice
to sell someone short: see sell
to get short shrift: see shrift
to cut a long story short: see story
to draw the short straw: see straw
in short supply: see supply
in the short term: see term
II. NOUN USES
/ʃɔ:(r)t/
(shorts)
1.
Shorts are trousers with very short legs, that people wear in hot weather or for taking part in sports.
...two women in bright cotton shorts and tee shirts.
N-PLURAL: also a pair of N
2.
Shorts are men’s underpants with short legs. (mainly AM)
N-PLURAL: also a pair of N
3.
A short is a small amount of a strong alcoholic drink such as whisky, gin, or vodka, rather than a weaker alcoholic drink that you can drink in larger quantities. (mainly BRIT)
N-COUNT
4.
A short is a short film, especially one that is shown before the main film at the cinema.
N-COUNT
Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary
3short noun, pl shorts
1 shorts [plural]
a : pants that end at or above the knees
• a pair of shorts
• Your shorts are dirty.
• short shorts [=shorts that cover very little of the legs]
- see color picture
- see also bermuda shorts
b : boxer shorts
2 [count] : a short movie
• The short before the main movie was very funny.
3 [count] : short circuit
4 [noncount] baseball informal : shortstop
• Who's playing short?
5 [count] Brit : a small amount of liquor that you drink quickly : shot
• a short of vodka
for short : in a shorter form : as an abbreviation
• My name is Benjamin, or Ben for short.
in short : in a few words - used to indicate that you are saying something in as few words as possible
• The trip was, in short, a disaster.
• In short [=in summary], the company is doing extremely well.
the long and (the) short of it
- see 3long