go short

English

Verb

go short (third-person singular simple present goes short, present participle going short, simple past went short, past participle gone short)

1. (UK) (intransitive, or transitive with of) To have an insufficient amount (of).

   My parents were very poor, and we often went short of food.

2. (finance) To sell a financial product (such as a share) now, even though one does not presently own it, in the hope of buying it more cheaply for delivery at a later date, so as to profit from a fall in price below the price at which one sold it; cf. go long.

Further reading

• “go short of something” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “go short of something” (US) / “go short of something” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “go short”, in Collins English Dictionary.