: being the member of a pair of similarly spelled vowel or vowel-containing sounds that is descended from a vowel that was short in duration but is no longer so and that does not necessarily have duration as its chief distinguishing feature The adjective short describes things that aren't long when you measure them, or have a small distance from one end to another, like your short hair or the short walk to the library. To short something such as stocks or a currency is to sell them in the expectation that falling prices will allow you to buy them back at a profit before they have to be delivered to the buyer.