shorted

4 definitions • 6 examples

past simple and past participle of

informal for

Circuit breakers shorted, which cut off power to safety systems throughout the plant.

The plumber shorted the washing machine.

to treat someone unfairly, by giving them less than they deserve, or less than what is needed or usual:

She calculated that many of the state's 176 school districts were being shorted a total of $161 million annually.

He said the company has shorted him $500 in the past six months.

to sell a share or currency that you have borrowed when you think its price is going to fall, with the intention of buying it back later at a lower price, then keeping the profit after paying back what you borrowed:

At the time it was the market's most shorted stock - with traders staking more than £100 million on the share price falling.

One famous example was when George Soros shorted the pound in 1992, and Britain was forced out of the European exchange rate mechanism.