shorts

1. 1
   nounplural

   Short pants that end at or above the knees, worn for sports or in hot weather.

   Like pants with the legs cut off above the knee.

   He wore his favorite shorts to the basketball game.

   These shorts feel too tight when I run on hot days.

   Note
2. 2
   noundatedplural

   Underwear worn on the lower body, under your pants.

   He put on clean shorts before pulling his pants over them.

   The top drawer was full of folded undershirts and shorts.

   Similarunderpants, drawers

   Note
3. 3
   noununcountableplural

   Leftover bits, clippings, or trimmings made during manufacturing.

   Like the scraps left over when you cut shapes out of paper.

   The factory sells its shorts to a recycler each month.

   A pile of shorts built up beside the cutting table.

   Similartrimmings, offcuts, scraps, clippings

   Note
4. 4
   nounplural

   Bits of milled grain that are sifted out, a little finer than bran.

   Like the slightly rough bits left when you sift flour through a screen.

   The miller mixed the shorts into feed for the pigs.

   Farmers buy shorts cheaply to fatten their cattle.

   Similarpollard

   Note
5. 5
   nounplural

   Short, low-quality fibers left over from processing hemp.

   Like the short, messy bits left after combing the good long threads out.

   The mill spun the hemp shorts into rough twine.

   Cheap sacking is woven from shorts rather than long fiber.

   Similartow

6. 6
   noun

   Plural of short. Use this form when you mean more than one short.

   The film festival showed several shorts in one afternoon.

   The class watched three animated shorts after lunch.

   Note
7. 7
   verb

   Third-person singular present of short. Use it with he, she, or it.

   A frayed wire shorts whenever the machine vibrates.

   She always shorts me a dollar at the register.

   Note

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