short-stop

present singular third person short-stops · participle present short-stopping · participle past short-stopped · past short-stopped

1. To stop (a process, trip, trajectory, etc.) before it complete; to cause to stop short.

   He went to the hospital, where they short-stopped a heart attack, perhaps by minutes.

   1991, Mediaweek - Volume 1, page 14

   4 more examples

   the check which we mentioned earlier as a prime example of present-day around-the-barn movement in the payments stream, might conceivably be short-stopped at a regional clearing center located in Maine.

   1967, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Report to Stockholders, page 7

   Davis says Florida often gets "short-stopped” when an airline carrying a company site selector from California stops in Houston or Dallas or Austin.

   1983, Sue Hoover, Help Wanted: The First Guide to High-tech Jobs, page 14

   Nitrile rubbers, if they are to be used as dissolving resins, must be short-stopped at about 60 % conversion; otherwise an insoluble gel forms within the resin.

   1991, Robert D. Athey, Emulsion Polymer Technology, page 80

   Either the intentionality of reference is accepted as a datum or it has to be explained. Folkism short-stops the question, both ways.

   2003, R.J. Nelson, Naming and Reference: The Link of Word to Object

2. ball gamesTo play the position of shortstop.

   I have never known her to follow with any degree of avidity the fortunes of the Kansas City Monarchs, for whom Robinson short-stopped last season.

   1979, Mark Harris, Short Work of it: Selected Writing, page 4

   2 more examples

   In The Spirit of the Times, the most reliable sporting paper of the Coast, we find the following encouraging criticism on our baseball nine: " Koshland (a tower of strength to this league) short topped and ran bases as brilliantly as the best of professionals."

   1886, California Occident - Volumes 11-12, page 88

   Baird, '12, has been catching, short-stopping, second-basing and left-fielding with varying good nature, but impartial ability and with commendable attention to such trifling details as hitting and base running, matters apparently beneath the notice of most of the team.

   1909, The Phi Gamma Delta - Volume 32, page 742