Meanings
- idiomaticpluralplural onlyusually preceded by theThe final steps of an undertaking, especially one which has been lengthy or laborious.
He knows they are in the short strokes—it's almost over.
1990, M. E. Morris, The Last Kamikaze, →ISBN, page 2422 more examples
Ironing out the short strokes has taken a little longer than expected, but it all should be worth the wait for Strawberry when the Yankees officially announce today they have re-signed the rehabbed slugger.
1998 January 8, Peter Botte, “Straw Signing Official Today”, in New York Daily News, retrieved 18 May 2009Sly and Dave Chandler having set the deal, and Al McAfee moving in to do the legal fine points, Maxwell and Johnson tumbled into our lap for just over a million in cash up front and about twice that in Slumberhaven stock and options. I didn't even have to get involved, except for the short strokes toward the end.
2006, William Annett, The Final Undertaking, →ISBN, page 87Synonyms: finishing touches, final effort, last gasp
- idiomaticpluralplural onlyBare essentials.
She can evoke an entire scene in short strokes, as in this from "The Wamsutter Wolf": "This trailer was in ruins, broken-backed because its west end had slipped off the cinder-block supports. All the windows had been shot out."
2005, Martin Levin, "Shelf Life" (review of Close Range by Annie Proulx), Globe and Mail (Canada), 15 Jan., p. D13
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe final steps of an undertaking, especially one which has been lengthy or laborious.
Origin
Possibly an allusion to painting, in which a painter typically finishes a work with short, careful, finishing strokes of the paint brush, or to golf, in which a player concludes each hole by making short strokes with a putter.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish loppusuora
- loppusuorafinal steps of an undertaking
Cite this entry
short strokes. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/short%20strokes
“short strokes.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/short%20strokes. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “short strokes,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/short%20strokes.
Source: short strokes on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.