- shore (v.)
[shore 词源字典] - mid-14c., "to prop, support with a prop;" of obscure etymology though widespread in Germanic (Middle Dutch schooren "to prop up, support," Old Norse skorða (n.) "a piece of timber set up as a support"). Related: Shored; shoring. Also as a noun, "post or beam for temporary support of something" (mid-15c.), especially an oblique timber to brace the side of a building or excavation.[shore etymology, shore origin, 英语词源]
- shoreline (n.)
- also shore-line, 1852 in the geographical sense, from shore (n.) + line (n.).
- shorn (adj.)
- "shaven," late Old English scoren, past participle adjective from shear (v.).
- short (adj.)
- Old English sceort, scort "short, not long, not tall; brief," probably from Proto-Germanic *skurta- (cognates: Old Norse skorta "to be short of," skort "shortness;" Old High German scurz "short"), from PIE root *(s)ker- (1) "to cut," with notion of "something cut off" (cognates: Sanskrit krdhuh "shortened, maimed, small;" Latin curtus "short," cordus "late-born," originally "stunted in growth;" Old Church Slavonic kratuku, Russian korotkij "short;" Lithuanian skurstu "to be stunted," skardus "steep;" Old Irish cert "small," Middle Irish corr "stunted, dwarfish").
Meaning "having an insufficient quantity" is from 1690s. Meaning "rude" is attested from late 14c. Meaning "easily provoked" is from 1590s; perhaps the notion is of being "not long in tolerating." Short fuse in figurative sense of "quick temper" first attested 1968. To fall short is from archery. Short run "relatively brief period of time" is from 1879. Short story first recorded 1877. To make short work of "dispose of quickly" is first attested 1570s. Phrase short and sweet is from 1530s. To be short by the knees (1733) was to be kneeling; to be short by the head (1540s) was to be beheaded. - short (n.)
- 1580s, the short "the result, the total," from short (adj.). Meaning "electrical short circuit" first recorded 1906 (see short circuit). Meaning "contraction of a name or phrase" is from 1873 (as in for short). Slang meaning "car" is attested from 1897; originally "street car," so called because street cars (or the rides taken in them) were "shorter" than railroad cars.
- short (v.)
- Old English sceortian "to grow short, become short; run short, fail," from the source of short (adj.). Transitive meaning "make short" is from late 12c. Meaning "to short-circuit" is by 1904. Related: Shorted; shorting.
- short circuit (n.)
- also short-circuit, 1854, in electricity, from short (adj.) + circuit (n.). As a verb, introduce a shunt of low resistance," from 1867; intransitive sense from 1902; in the figurative sense is recorded by 1899. Related: short-circuited; short-circuiting.
- short-change (v.)
- also shortchange, "to cheat by giving too little change to," 1903, from adjectival expression short-change (with man, trick, etc.), 1901, from short (adj.) + change (n.).
- short-handed (adj.)
- "having too few 'hands,'" 1794, from short (adj.) + -handed. The ice hockey sense is attested from 1939.
- short-lived (adj.)
- 1580s, from short (adj.) + past tense of live (v.).
- short-order (adj.)
- of restaurants, from 1897, from adverbial expression in short order "rapidly, with no fuss," from short (adj.) + order (n.).
- short-sighted (adj.)
- also shortsighted, 1640s, of eyesight, "myopic;" 1620s in the sense "lacking foresight;" see short (adj.) + sight (n.). Related: Shortsightedly; shortsightedness.
- short-sleeve (n.)
- 1630s, from short (adj.) + sleeve. First recorded in an ordinance of Massachusetts Bay colony, forbidding "short sleeves, whereby the nakedness of the arme may be discovered."
- short-term (adj.)
- 1901, from short (adj.) + term (n.).
- short-timer (n.)
- "one whose term or enlistment is about to expire," 1906, from short (adj.) + time (n.) + agent noun ending -er (1).
- short-wave (adj.)
- in reference to radio wavelength less than c.100 meters, 1907, from short (adj.) + wave (n.).
- shortage (n.)
- 1862, American English, from short + -age.
- shortbread (n.)
- also short-bread, 1755, from short (see shortening) + bread (n.).
- shortcake (n.)
- also short-cake, 1590s, from short (see shortening) + cake (n.).
- shortcoming (n.)
- 1670s, from the phrase to come short "be inadequate" (1570s); see short (adj.). Related: Shortcomings.
