stop short

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

1. To come to a sudden and unexpected stop, particularly while speaking or driving a vehicle.

   He had only taken a step forward into the room when he again stopped short to exclaim.

   1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle

2. usuallywith ofTo voluntarily cease an attempt to reach a certain point.

   He stopped short of saying the story was true but accused the palace of lying when they "squashed" it.

   2022 December 15, Jack Royston, “Prince Harry throws more accusations at Prince William than ever before”, in Newsweek

   1 more example

   Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.

   1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 1

   Synonyms: hold back

3. with ofTo come to a stop before reaching a certain point.

   He, too, had a split beard of the same square cut, a cleft in his chin, and a squint. His hair, his eyes, in a loose way his whole aspect, resembled the face of the khan.>br>The resemblance stopped short in the matter of the soul; for the fellow looked dreamy and kind.

   1938, Walter Claremartin, Golden Hour of Guchee

   1 more example

   Thirteen people were injured in August 1957 when this Bristol freighter skidded on the runway at Southend Airport when landing with a flight from Calais. It ploughed through the boundary fence, but thankfully stopped short of the railway and the 1,500V overhead wires. A tripwire was installed on this section of Shenfield-Southend line to warn train drivers of instances such as this.

   2020 December 30, Tim Dunn, “The railway's mechanical marvels”, in Rail, page 58, photo caption