The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Short \Short\, n.
   1. A summary account.
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            The short and the long is, our play is preferred.
                                                  --Shak.
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   2. pl. The part of milled grain sifted out which is next
      finer than the bran.
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            The first remove above bran is shorts. --Halliwell.
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   3. pl. Short, inferior hemp.
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   4. pl. Breeches; shortclothes. [Slang] --Dickens.
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   5. (Phonetics) A short sound, syllable, or vowel.
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            If we compare the nearest conventional shorts and
            longs in English, as in "bit" and "beat," "not" and
            "naught," we find that the short vowels are
            generally wide, the long narrow, besides being
            generally diphthongic as well. Hence, originally
            short vowels can be lengthened and yet kept quite
            distinct from the original longs.     --H. Sweet.
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   In short, in few words; in brief; briefly.

   The long and the short, the whole; a brief summing up.

   The shorts (Stock Exchange), those who are unsupplied with
      stocks which they contracted to deliver.
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