shorting

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of short

plural shortings

1. countableuncountableshort selling
2. countableuncountableshort circuit; outage

   […] rotted and cracked, and occasionally the water would seep through to the bare wires and cause shortings and electric fires.

   1969, Tighe, Donald J., Source idea technique: a writer's reader, Holbrook Press, page 126

   2 more examples

   There was a signal station, an old Italian military relic, the equipment in it so dangerous, due to electrical shortings, that the Italian soldier who looked after it used to pray before he used it.

   1971, Hanley, Gerald, Warriors and strangers, Hamilton, page 9

   Being “free surface” it made the rolling linger longer at the extremes, and it was this lingering that was causing the shortings and the blackouts to last longer.

   1986, Evans, A. S, Beneath the waves: a history of HM Submarine losses, William Kimber, page 317