Short-pot, subs. phr. (B. E. c. 1696).—'False, cheating Potts used at Ale-houses, and Brandy-shops.'
Short-staff. See Gentleman.
Short-stick, subs. phr. (drapers').—See quot.
1863. Once a Week, viii. 179. All goods again that are sold in the piece run short: short-stick in fact is a slang term for insufficient lengths.
Shot, subs. (old: still colloquial).—1. A reckoning; a share of expense (B. E. and Grose). Hence (2) = money (generic): as shot in the locker = money in hand, or at will. Also shot-*bag = a purse; shot-free = nothing to pay: also scot-free; shot-clog = a simpleton, tolerated because he is willing to pay reckonings; shot-flagon = 'the hosts' pot, given where the guests have drank above a shilling's-worth of ale' (Halliwell): whence shot-pot = one entitled to the shot-flagon; shot-ship = a company sharing and sharing alike; shot-shark = a waiter.
1591. Greene, Notable Discovery [Works, x. 47]. There he bestowed cheare and ipocras vpon them, drinking hard til the shot came to a noble.
1595. Shakspeare, Two Gentlemen, iii. 5. I'll to the alehouse with you presently; where for one shot of five pence, thou shalt have five thousand welcomes.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Pagare lo scotto, to paie the shot or reckoning.
1596. Jonson, Ev. Man in His Humour, v. 4. Where be then these shot-sharks? Ibid. (1601), Poetaster, i. 1. A gull, a rook, a shot-clog, to make suppers and be laughed at.
1604. Dekker, Honest Whore [Works (1873), ii. 51]. A brace of gulles, dwelling here in the city, came in, and paid all the shot.
1605. Chapman, Jonson, &c., Eastward Hoe, i. 1. Thou common shot-clog, dupe of all companies.
. . . . . Amende for Ladies, 51. Drawer, take your plate. For the reckoning there's some of their cloaks: I will be no shot-clog to such.
1630. T. Adams, Fatal Banket [The Title of the fourth part runs] 'The Shot, or the wofull price which the wicked pay for the Feast of Vanitie.'
1715. Centlivre, Gotham Election, iv. We give the treat, but they shall pay the shot.
1800. C. Lamb, Letter [to Coleridge, 6 Aug.]. I have the first volume, and truth to tell, six shillings is a broad shot.
1821. Scott, Kenilworth, xix. Are you to stand shot to all this good liquor.
1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle's Log, ii. I have wherewithal in the locker to pay my shot.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (1862), 74. He bolted away without paying his shot, And the Landlady after him hurried.
1847-8. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxvi. My wife shall travel like a lady. As long as there's a shot in the locker she shall want for nothing.
1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, 57. Depositing the 'tin' in his shot-bag.
1851. Seaworthy, Bertie, 42. I'll al'ays do the fair thing, and stan' shot till we git to Edentown.
1863. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, xxxiv. Bring him some victual, landlord. I'll stand shot.
1880. Sims, Three Brass Balls, Pledge xv. It shall never want a friend while I've a shot in the locker.
3. (old).—A corpse.
4. (colloquial).—A guess; also (5) = an attempt, a venture.
1844. Kinglake, Eothen, viii. 137. I secretly smiled at this last prophecy as a bad shot.
1854. Whyte-Melville, General Bounce, xiii. But here we are at Tattersall's; . . . so now for good information, long odds, a safe man, and a shot at the favourite!
