| short | 1. Not long; having brief length or linear extension; as, a short distance; a short piece of timber; a short flight. "The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it." (Isa. Xxviii. 20) 2. Not extended in time; having very limited duration; not protracted; as, short breath. "The life so short, the craft so long to learn." (Chaucer) "To short absense I could yield." (Milton) 3. Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty; as, a short supply of provisions, or of water. 4. Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied; scantily furnished; lacking; not coming up to a resonable, or the ordinary, standard; usually with of; as, to be short of money. "We shall be short in our provision." (Shak) 5. Deficient; defective; imperfect; not coming up, as to a measure or standard; as, an account which is short of the trith. 6. Not distant in time; near at hand. "Marinell was sore offended That his departure thence should be so short." (Spenser) "He commanded those who were appointed to attend him to be ready by a short day." (Clarendon) 7. Limited in intellectual power or grasp; not comprehensive; narrow; not tenacious, as memory. "Their own short understandings reach No farther than the present." (Rowe) 8. Less important, efficaceous, or powerful; not equal or equivalent; less (than); with of. "Hardly anything short of an invasion could rouse them again to war." (Landor) 9. Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant; as, he gave a short answer to the question. 10. Breaking or crumbling readily in the mouth; crisp; as, short pastry. 11. <chemistry> Brittle. Metals that are brittle when hot are called ot-short; as, cast iron may be hot-short, owing to the presence of sulphur. Those that are brittle when cold are called cold-short; as, cast iron may be cold-short, on account of the presence of phosphorus. 12. Engaging or engaged to deliver what is not possessed; as, short contracts; to be short of stock. See The shorts, under Short, and To sell short. In mercantile transactions, a note or bill is sometimes made payable at short sight, that is, in a little time after being presented to the payer. 13. Not prolonged, or relatively less prolonged, in utterance; opposed to long, and applied to vowels or to syllables. In English, the long and short of the same letter are not, in most cases, the long and short of the same sound; thus, the i in ill is the short sound, not of i in isle, but of ee in eel, and the e in pet is the short sound of a in pate, etc. See Quantity, and Guide to Pronunciation, 22. Short is much used with participles to form numerous self-explaining compounds; as, short-armed, short-billed, short-fingered, short-haired, short-necked, short-sleeved, short-tailed, short-winged, short-wooled, etc. at short notice, in a brief time; promptly. Short rib, any suit having only three cards, or less than three. To come short, To cut short, To fall short, etc. See Come, Cut, etc. Origin: OE. Short, schort, AS. Scort, sceort; akin to OHG. Scurz, Icel. Skorta to be short of, to lack, and perhaps to E. Shear, v. T. Cf. Shirt. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| short abductor muscle of thumb | <anatomy, muscle> Origin, tubercle of trapezium and flexor retinaculum; insertion, lateral side of proximal phalanx of thumb; action, abducts thumb; nerve supply, median. Synonym: musculus abductor pollicis brevis, short abductor muscle of thumb. (05 Mar 2000) |
| short adductor muscle | <anatomy, muscle> Origin, superior ramus of pubis; insertion, upper third of medial lip of linea aspera; action, adducts thigh; nerve supply, obturator. Synonym: musculus adductor brevis, short adductor muscle. (05 Mar 2000) |
| short bone | One whose dimensions are approximately equal; it consists of a layer of cortical substance enclosing spongy substance and narrow. Compare: long bone. Synonym: os breve. (05 Mar 2000) |
| short bowel syndrome | <syndrome> A malabsorption syndrome resulting from extensive operative resection of small bowel. (12 Dec 1998) |
| short central artery | <anatomy, artery> A branch of the precommunical part of the anterior cerebral artery. Synonym: arteria centralis brevis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| short chain | In bacteriology, a string of two to eight cells. (05 Mar 2000) |
| short ciliary nerve | <anatomy, nerve> One of a number of branches of the ciliary ganglion, supplying the ciliary muscles, iris, and tunics of the eyeball. Synonym: nervus ciliaris brevis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| short crus of incus | The short crus of incus; the process of the incus that fits into a depression (fossa incudis) in the epitympanic recess. Synonym: crus breve incudis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| short extensor muscle of great toe | <anatomy, muscle> The medial belly of extensor digitorum brevis musculus, the tendon of which is inserted into the base of the proximal phalanx of the great toe. Synonym: musculus extensor hallucis brevis, short extensor muscle of great toe. (05 Mar 2000) |
| short extensor muscle of thumb | <anatomy, muscle> Origin, dorsal surface of radius; insertion, base of proximal phalanx of thumb; action, extends and abducts the thumb; nerve supply, radial. Synonym: musculus extensor pollicis brevis, musculus extensor brevis pollicis, short extensor muscle of thumb. (05 Mar 2000) |
| short extensor muscle of toes | 1. <anatomy, muscle> (foot) Origin, dorsal surface of calcaneus; insertion, by four tendons fusing with those of the extensor digitorum longus, and by a slip attached independently to the base of the proximal phalanx of the great toe; action, extends toes; nerve supply, deep peroneal. Synonym: musculus extensor digitorum brevis, musculus extensor brevis digitorum, short extensor muscle of toes. 2. (hand) A short extensor muscle of the fingers of rare occurrence, and comparable to the short extensor of the toes. Synonym: musculus extensor digitorum brevis manus, Pozzi's muscle. (05 Mar 2000) |
| short fibular muscle | <anatomy, muscle> Origin, lower two-thirds of lateral surface of fibula; insertion, base of fifth metatarsal bone; action, everts foot; nerve supply, superficial peroneal. Synonym: musculus fibularis brevis, musculus peroneus brevis, short fibular muscle, short peroneal muscle. (05 Mar 2000) |
| short flexor muscle of great toe | <anatomy, muscle> Origin, medial surface of cuboid and middle and lateral cuneiform bones; insertion, by two tendons, embracing that of the flexor longus hallucis, into the sides of the base of the proximal phalanx of the great toe; action, flexes great toe; nerve supply, medial and lateral plantar. Synonym: musculus flexor hallucis brevis, musculus flexor brevis hallucis, short flexor muscle of great toe. (05 Mar 2000) |
| short flexor muscle of little finger | Origin, hamulus of hamate bone; insertion, medial side of proximal phalanx of little finger; action, flexes proximal phalanx of little finger; nerve supply, ulnar. Synonym: musculus flexor digiti minimi brevis manus, short flexor muscle of little finger. (05 Mar 2000) |
| red-short | <chemistry> Hot-short; brittle when red-hot; said of certain kinds of iron. Red"-shortness. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| congenitally short oesophagus | <radiology> Very rare findings: nonreducible intrathoracic gastric segment, short straight oesophagus, circular narrowing at GE junction frequently with ulcer, GE reflux see also: hiatal hernia (12 Dec 1998) |
| hot-short | <chemistry> More or less brittle when heated; as, hot-short iron. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| LTDH short chain dehydrogenase | <enzyme> Has been sequenced; responsible for methotrexate resistance; isolated from leishmania sp. Registry number: EC 1.3.- Synonym: ltdh gene product, pteridine reductase 1, ptr1 gene product, hmtx(r) gene product (26 Jun 1999) |