shorthand 
shorthand (short'hand), H. und . [Formerly 
filso short-hitud, short IHIIK/; < short + linml.] 
I. n. A system of writing briefer than that in 
general use (which is distinctively culled l<i</- 
liiiiid) ; a method of writing in which abbrevia- 
tions or arbitrary simple characters or sym- 
bols are more or less systematically employed, 
in order to write words with greater rapidity 
than in the ordinary method of writing; bra- 
chygraphy; stenography; tachygraphy. Theva- 
rieties of shorthand now in use are nearly all based on 
the phonetic principle. The system introduced by Isaac 
I'itinan in 1S37, and known as phonography (which see) 
from 1840, has, in its various modifications by its origi- 
nator and others, a very wide currency wherever the Eng- 
lish language is spoken. After the issue of the ninth edi- 
tion of his work, in 1853, Pitman introduced extensive 
changes (especially in the vowel-system). The following 
is a comparative view of Pitman's later and earlier systems 
and that of a modification of them by J. E. Munson of New 
York (1800) : 
Pitman, Munson, and Pitman's Ninth Edition : 
\p,\b, |t, |d, /ch, /j, _k,_g, ^ 
^ v. ( th, ( dh, )s, ) z, Jsh, Jzh, ^m,^,n, 
.-,589 
are easily fattened, and the flesh is of excellent quality, 
but for dairy purposes they are inferior to some other 
breeds. The word is often used adjectively : as, the short- 
horn breed. Also called Durham and Teeswater. Kncyc. 
Brit., I. 387. 
short-horned (sh6rt'hornd), a. 1. Havingshort 
horns, as cattle : specifically noting the breed of 
cattle called shorthorns. 2. Having short an- 
tennas, as an insect. Short-horned flies, the sub- 
order Brachycera. Short-horned grasshoppers, the 
family Acridiidx. See grasshopper and locust^, 1. 
Shortia (shor'ti-a), n. [NL. (Torrey and Gray, 
1842), named after Charles W. Short, an Ameri- 
can botanist (1794-1863).] A genus of gamo- 
petalous plants, of the order Diapemiacese and 
tribe Galacinex. It is characterized by scaly-bracteo- 
late flowers, with a five-parted persistent calyx, ftve-lobed 
bell-shaped corolla, flve stamens and five scale-shaped in- 
curved staminodes, and a globose three-celled ovary, 
which ripens into a three-valved capsule crowned with 
the Aliform style, and containing very numerous small 
seeds. There are but 2 species, S. uniflara of Japan, and 
Pitman : 
Munson : 
"9th Ed." 
VOWELS. 
Long. 
Short 
Pitman, Munson: 
'^iairTTTir 
IT-iTj? 
P., M.," 9 th Ed.": 
law -|o |oo 
~|o -|u loo 
" 9 th Ed.": 
1e -13 Jah 
IT -|C .|a 
DIPHTHONGS. 
Pitman: v |i *|oi |ow Ju 
Munson: v |i < |oi L |ow ,|u 
" 9 th Ed.": "|i V Jow Ju 
For further comparison, the sentence "my tongue is the 
pen of a ready writer," as written in these three systems, 
is here given : 
""""I \ x " /I jr 
Pitman : l_^ * => ^ ' ' 
M unson : L, a i 
" 9 thEd.":^ [_ ' \ "" /I /! 
Author of the Art of Memorie, in Latin, 1618, 12mo. 
Inventor of Short-hand 'tis the best. Bp. Wilkins sayd 
'tis only used in England, or by the English. 
Aubrey, Lives, John Willis. 
They shewed also a Psalter in the short Notes of Tyro, 
Tullius's Libertus ; with a Discourse concerning the use 
of such Short Hand in the beginning of the Manuscript. 
Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 118. 
(The following passage is an early allusion to the use of 
the word in this sense : 
Blep. He could never find the way to my house. 
Chrem. But now he shall at a short-hand. 
Blep. What, brachygraphy ? Thomas Shelton's art? 
Chrem. No, I mean suddenly. 
Randolph, Hey for Honesty, ii. 3.] 
Phonetic shorthand. See phonetic. 
II. a. 1. Of writing, contracted; stenograph- 
ic ; written in shorthand : as, shorthand notes. 
2. Of persons, using shorthand ; stenographic. 
It must after this be consign'd by the Short-hand Writ- 
ers to the Publick Press. 
Congreve, Way of the World, v. 5. 
short-handed (sh6rt'han"ded), a. Not having 
the necessary or regular number of hands, ser- 
vants, or assistants. 
Alston, the owner of the ranch, eyed him over from crown 
to spur, . . . and, being short-handed, engaged him on the 
spot. Harper's Mag., LXXIX. 459. 
shorthander (short'han"der), n. A stenogra- 
pher. [Colloq.] 
It is a pity that no English shorthander has tried the ex- 
periment of a purely script basis, in which the blunt an- 
gles and other defects of the geometric systems shall not 
merely be reduced to a minimum, but eliminated altoge- 
ther. The Academy, April 6, 1889, p. 243. 
short-head (short'hed), n. Naut., a sucking 
whale under one year old : when near that age, 
it is very fat and yields above thirty barrels of 
blubber. Simmonds. [Eng.] 
short-heeled (shdrt'held), a. Having the hind 
claw short, as a bird : as, the short-heeled field- 
lark (the tree-pipit, Anthus arboreus or trivia- 
//). [Scotch.] 
shorthorn (sh6rt'h6rn), n. One of a breed of 
cattle haying very short horns. The breed origi- 
nated in the beginning of the nineteenth century in the 
valley of the Tees in England, but is now spread over nil 
the richly pastured districts of Great Britain. The cattle 
Flowering Plant of Shortia galacifolia. a, the corolla, laid open. 
S. galacifolia of the mountains of western North Caro- 
lina, long thought the rarest of North American plants, 
and famed as the plant particularly associated with Asa 
Gray, who first described it from a fragment seen in Paris 
in 1889, with a prediction of its structure and relation- 
ship, verified on its first discovery in flower in 1877. It is 
a smooth and delicate stemless plant from a perennial 
root, with long-stalked round or cordate evergreen radical 
leaves. The handsome nodding white flower is solitary 
upon a long peduncle which becomes erect in fruit. The 
plant grows in extensive patches in mountain ravines, in 
company with its relative Galax. 
short-jointed (short'join"ted), a. 1. Having 
short intervals between the joints: said of 
plants. 2. Having a short pastern: specifi- 
cally said of a horse. 
Round hoof'd, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long. 
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 295. 
short-laid (short'lad), a. In rope-making, short- 
twisted. 
short-legged (sh6rt'leg"ed or -legd), a. Having 
short legs, as the breed of hens called creepers. 
Some pigeons, Davy, a couple of short-legged hens. 
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., v. 1. 28. 
Short-lived (short'livd), a. [< short + life + 
-erf 2 .] Having a short life or existence; not 
living or lasting long ; of short continuance : as. 
a short-lived race of beings ; short-lived passion. 
Such short-lived wits do wither as they grow. 
Shak., L. L. L., ii. 1.64. 
Some have . . . sought 
By pyramids and mausolean pomp, 
Short-liv'd themselves, t' immortalize their bones. 
Cowper, Task, v. 184. 
Suit lightly won, and short-lived pain, 
For monarchs seldom sigh in vain. 
Scott, Marmion, v. 9. 
shortly (sh&rt'li), adv. [< ME. shortly, short/i, 
schortly, schortliche, scheortliche, < AS. sceortlwe, 
scortlice, < sceort, scort, short: see short and 
-/I/ 2 .] In a short manner, (a) In a short time ; pres- 
ently ; soon : often with be/ore or after. 
To shew unto his servants things which must shortly 
come to pass. Rev. i. 1. 
I shall be shortly in London. Howell, Letters, I. v. 30. 
They lost her in a storm that fell shortly after they had 
been on board. 
N. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 98. 
(&) In few words ; briefly. 
And shortly to precede in this mater, 
They chase hym kyng by voice of the land. 
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1324. 
Are not those circumstances true that this gentleman 
hath so shortly and methodically delivered? 
Beau, and Fl. , Coxcomb, v. 3. 
I may be permitted to indicate shortly two or three fal- 
lacies. Lecky, Europ. Morals, II. 220. 
(c) Curtly; abruptly; sharply. 
short-toed 
Litull Johne seid he had won v shyllyngs, 
And Robyn Hode seid schortty nay. 
JiMn Hood and the Monk (Child's Ballads, V. 3). 
shortneck (short'nek), . The pectoral sand- 
piper, Triuga maculattt. See cut under sand- 
piper. (T. Trumbtdl, 1888. [Long Island.] 
shortness (short'nes), n. [< ME. schortites, 
schortncsse, < AS. sceortnys, scortnys, < sceort, 
scort, short: see short and -ness.~\ The quality 
or state of being short, (a) Want of length or ex- 
tent in space or time ; little length or little duration. 
They move strongest in a right line, which is caused by 
the shortness of the distance. Bacon, Nat. Hist. 
The shortness of the emperors' reigns . . . did not give 
the workmen time to make many of their figures ; and, as 
the shortness of their reigns was generally occasioned by 
the advancement of a rival, it is no wonder that nobody 
worked on the figure of a deceased emperor when his en- 
emy was on the throne. 
Addison, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 498). 
(6) Fewness of words ; brevity ; conciseness. 
I am called awai, I prai you pardon mi shortnes. 
Sir J. Cheke, in Ascham's Scholemaster, Int., p. 6. 
(c) Want of reach, or of the power of retention : as, the 
shortness of the memory, (d) Deficiency ; imperfection ; 
limited extent ; poverty : as, the shortness of our reason ; 
shortness of provisions. 
In case from any shortness of water, or other cause, the 
turbine should have to be stopped. 
Elect. Rev. (Eng.), XXVI. 121. 
(e) Curtness ; sharpness : as, her temper was evident from 
the shortness of her answers. (/) Brittleness ; friability ; 
crispness. 
From this pulverized stone, sand, and cement a stronger 
mortar was obtained than from sand and cement only ; 
the mixture also was quite free from shortness. 
Sci. Amer., N. S., LX. 276. 
short-shipped (sh6rt'shipt), a. 1. Put on board 
ship in deficient quantity. 2. Shut out from 
a snip accidentally or for want of room. 
short-sighted (sh6rt'si"ted), a. 1. Having dis- 
tinct vision only when the object is near ; near- 
sighted; myopic. 
Short-sighted men see remote objects best in Old Age. 
Newton, Opticks, i. 11. 
To be short-sighted, or stare, to fleer in the Face, to look 
distant, to observe, to overlook. 
Steele, Conscious Lovers, i. 1. 
2. Not able to look far into futurity ; of limited 
intellect; not able to discern remoter conse- 
quences or results; not gifted with foresight. 
The wise his days with pleasure ends, 
The foolish and short-sighted die with fear, 
That they go no-where. 
Sir J. Denham, Old Age, iv. 
3. Proceeding from or characterized by a want 
of foresight: as, a short-sighted plan. 
short-sightedly (sh6rt's!"ted-li), adv. In a 
short-sighted manner ; hence, with lack of fore- 
sight or penetration. 
short-sightedness (sh6rt-sl"ted-nes), . The 
state or character of being short-sighted, (a) 
Near-sightedness ; myopia. (&) Defective or limited in- 
tellectual discernment ; inability to see far into futurity 
or to discern remote consequences. 
We think a thousand years a great matter . . . through 
our short-sightedness. 
Abp. Leighton, Works (ed. 1867), I. 303. 
Cunning is a kind of shortsightedness. 
Addison, Spectator, No. 225. 
(c) Lack of foresight ; the fact of being characterized by, 
or of proceeding from, want of foresight : as, the shortsight- 
edness of a proposed policy. 
short-spoken (short'sp6"kn), a. Speaking in 
a short or quick-tempered manner; sharp in 
address ; curt of speech. 
short-staple (short'sta/'pl), o. Having the 
fiber short: applied in commerce to the ordi- 
nary upland cotton of the United States. See 
cotton-plant, and compare long-staple. 
short-stop (short'stop), . A player in the 
game of base-ball who is stationed between sec- 
ond and third base ; also, the position filled by 
that player. See base-ball. Also called short. 
short-styled (shdrt'stild), a. In bot., having a 
short style. See heterogonous trimorphism, un- 
der heterogonow. 
shorttail (shdrt'tal), n. A short-tailed snake; 
a tortricid ; a roller. 
short-tailed (short'tald), a. Having a short 
tail; having short tail-feathers ; brevicaudate ; 
brachyurotis : specifically said of many animals 
and of a few groups of animals Short-tailed 
crustaceans, the Brachyura. Short- tailed field-mice, 
the voles or ArvicoKna. Short- tailed snakes, the Tor- 
Iricidx. ShorV tailed swimmers, the brachyurous or 
pygopod natatorial birds, as auks, loons, grebes, and pen- 
guins. Short-tailed terns, the terns or sea-swallows 
of the genus Hydrochelidon, as the black tern, H. nigra or 
IT, lartformis. See cut under Hydrochelidon. 
short-tempered (short'tem"perd), . Having 
a hasty temper ; easily put out of temper. 
short-toed (shdrt'tod), a. Having short toes; 
brachydactylous Short-toed eagle, Circa?twt gal- 
