different between errant vs short

English

Alternative forms

• erraunt (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English erraunt, from Anglo-Norman erraunt, from Old French errant, from Latin errans (“wandering”). Doublet of arrant.

Pronunciation

• (US, UK) IPA^(key): /????nt/
• Homophone: arrant (in accents with the Mary–marry–merry merger)

Adjective

errant (comparative more errant, superlative most errant)

1. Straying from the proper course or standard, or outside established limits.
2. Wandering; roving around.
3. Prone to making errors; misbehaved.

   We ran down the street in pursuit of the errant dog.

4. (proscribed) Utter, complete (negative); arrant.

Usage notes

Sometimes arrant (“utter, complete”) is considered simply an alternative spelling and pronunciation of errant, though most authorities distinguish them, reserving errant to mean “wandering” and using it after the noun it modifies, notably in “knight errant”, while using arrant to mean “utter”, in a negative sense, and before the noun it modifies, notably in “arrant knaves”.

Etymologically, arrant arose as a variant of errant, but the meanings have long since diverged. Both terms are primarily used in set phrases (which may be considered cliché) and, since they are easily confused, some authorities suggest against using either.

Synonyms

• (utter, complete): arrant (generally distinguished; see usage)

Derived terms

• knight-errant
• arrant

Translations

Noun

errant (plural errants)

1. A knight-errant.

References

• “errant”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, ?ISBN
• Paul Brians (May 17, 2016) , “arrant/errant”, in Common Errors in English Usage?^[3]
• William Safire (January 22, 2006) , “On Language: Arrant Nonsense”, in New York Times?^[4]
• “errant, arrant”, in Merriam–Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage?^[5], 1995, page 406

Anagrams

• Ranter, Ratner, Terran, ranter, terran

French

Etymology

From Old French errant, from Latin err?ns, err?ntem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.???/

Verb

errant

1. present participle of errer

Adjective

errant (feminine singular errante, masculine plural errants, feminine plural errantes)

1. wandering, stray
2. errant (clarification of this definition is needed)

Further reading

• “errant” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• rentra

Latin

Verb

errant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of err?

Old French

Etymology

Present participle of errer (“to wander”), from Latin iter? (“I travel; I voyage”) rather than from err?, which is the ancestor of the other etymology of error (“to err; to make an error”).

Adjective

errant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular errant or errante)

1. wandering; nomadic

Descendants

• English: errant
• French: errant

English

Etymology

From Middle English schort, short, from Old English s?eort, s?ort (“short”), from Proto-West Germanic *skurt, from Proto-Germanic *skurtaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-.

Cognate with shirt, skirt, curt, Scots short, schort (“short”), French court, German kurz, Old High German scurz (“short”) (whence Middle High German schurz), Old Norse skorta (“to lack”) (whence Danish skorte), Albanian shkurt (“short, brief”), Latin curtus (“shortened, incomplete”), Proto-Slavic *kort?k?. Doublet of curt. More at shirt.

Pronunciation

• enPR: shôrt
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???t/
• (St. Louis (Missouri)) IPA^(key): [???t]
• (General Australian, General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /?o?t/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t

Adjective

short (comparative shorter, superlative shortest)

1. Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.
2. (of a person) Of comparatively small height.
3. Having little duration.

   Antonym: long

4. (followed by for) Of a word or phrase, constituting an abbreviation (for another) or shortened form (of another).

5. (cricket, of a fielder or fielding position) that is relatively close to the batsman.
6. (cricket, of a ball) bowled so that it bounces relatively far from the batsman.
7. (golf, of an approach shot or putt) that falls short of the green or the hole.
8. (of pastries) Brittle, crumbly, especially due to the use of a large quantity of fat. (See shortbread, shortcake, shortcrust, shortening.)
9. Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant.

10. Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty.

11. Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied, especially with money; scantily furnished; lacking.

12. Deficient; less; not coming up to a measure or standard.
13. (colloquial) Undiluted; neat.
14. (obsolete) Not distant in time; near at hand.
    • But, alas! he who escapes from death is not pardoned; he is only reprieved, and reprieved to a short day.

15. Being in a financial investment position that is structured to be profitable if the price of the underlying security declines in the future.

Usage notes

• (having a small distance between ends or edges): Short is often used in the positive vertical dimension and used as is shallow in the negative vertical dimension; in the horizontal dimension narrow is more commonly used.

Synonyms

• (having a small distance between ends or edges): low, narrow, slim, shallow
• (of a person, of comparatively little height): little, pint-sized, petite, titchy (slang)
• (having little duration): brief, concise
• (constituting an abbreviation (for)): an abbreviation of, a short form of

Antonyms

• (having a small distance between ends or edges): tall, high, wide, broad, deep, long
• (of a person, of comparatively little height): tall
• (having little duration): long
• (cricket, of a fielder or fielding position, relatively close to the batsman): long
• (financial position expecting falling value): long

Translations

Adverb

short (not comparable)

1. Abruptly, curtly, briefly.

2. Unawares.

3. Without achieving a goal or requirement.

4. (cricket, of the manner of bounce of a cricket ball) Relatively far from the batsman and hence bouncing higher than normal; opposite of full.
5. (finance) With a negative ownership position.

Derived terms

• three stops short of Dagenham

Translations

Noun

short (plural shorts)

1. A short circuit.
2. A short film.
   • 2012 July 12, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift[2]

     Preceded by a Simpsons short shot in 3-D—perhaps the only thing more superfluous than a fourth Ice Age movie—Ice Age: Continental Drift finds a retinue of vaguely contemporaneous animals coping with life in the post-Pangaea age.

3. A short version of a garment in a particular size.

4. (baseball) A shortstop.

5. (finance) A short seller.

6. (finance) A short sale.

7. A summary account.
8. (phonetics) A short sound, syllable, or vowel.
9. (programming) An integer variable having a smaller range than normal integers; usually two bytes long.
10. (US, slang) An automobile; especially in crack shorts, to break into automobiles.
    • 1975, Mary Sanches, Ben G. Blount, Sociocultural Dimensions of Language Use (page 47)

      For example, one addict would crack shorts (break and enter cars) and usually obtain just enough stolen goods to buy stuff and get off just before getting sick.

    • 1982, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice, Career Criminal Life Sentence Act of 1981: Hearings (page 87)

      […] list of all crimes reported by these 61 daily criminals during their years on the street is: theft (this includes shoplifting; "cracking shorts", burglary and other forms of stealing), dealing, forgery, gambling, confidence games (flim-flam, etc.) […]

Translations

See also

• shorts

Verb

short (third-person singular simple present shorts, present participle shorting, simple past and past participle shorted)

1. (transitive) To cause a short circuit in (something).
2. (intransitive) Of an electrical circuit, to short circuit.
3. (transitive) To shortchange.
4. (transitive) To provide with a smaller than agreed or labeled amount.

5. (transitive, business) To sell something, especially securities, that one does not own at the moment for delivery at a later date in hopes of profiting from a decline in the price; to sell short.
6. (obsolete) To shorten.

Translations

Preposition

short

1. Deficient in.

2. (finance) Having a negative position in.

Synonyms

• (deficient in): lacking, short on

Translations

Derived terms

Anagrams

• Stohr, horst, hotrs, thors, trosh

Albanian

Etymology

Borrowed through Vulgar Latin from Latin sors, sortem.

Noun

short m

1. drawing (action where the outcome is selected by chance using a draw)
2. sweepstakes

Chinese

Etymology

From English short.

Pronunciation

Adjective

short

1. (Cantonese) insane; crazy

Derived terms

Verb

short

1. (Cantonese, of electronics) to malfunction
2. (Cantonese, electrical engineering) to short-circuit

References

• ???? [3]

French

Etymology

From English shorts.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???t/

Noun

short m (plural shorts)

1. shorts, short trousers (UK)

   Avec un pantalon, j'ai moins froid aux jambes qu'avec un short.

   “With trousers on, my legs are not as cold as with shorts on.”

Further reading

• “short” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology

From English short.

Noun

short m (invariable)

1. short (short film etc)

Middle English

Adjective

short

1. Alternative form of schort

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• shorts

Etymology

From English shorts.

Noun

short m (plural shorts)

1. shorts (pants that do not go lower than the knees)

   Synonym: calção

Spanish

Etymology

From English shorts.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??o?t/, [??o?t?]

Noun

short m (plural shorts)

1. shorts