Not long; having brief length or linear extension; as, a short distance; a short piece of timber; a short flight.

Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant; as, he gave a short answer to the question.

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, 30.

A short sound, syllable, or vowel.

A minor, brief story.

of speech sounds (especially vowels) of relatively short duration (as e.g. the English vowel sounds in `pat', `pet', `pit', `pot', putt')

used of syllables that are unaccented or of relatively brief duration

See "brief."