Word.ws English Dictionary

bringing up short

bringing up short is the present participle and gerund of bring up short.

Meaning of bring up short

Verb

bring up short (third-person singular simple present brings up short, present participle bringing up short, simple past and past participle brought up short)

  1. To arrest (someone or something's) forward motion; to halt before a goal is reached.
    • The soldiers spurred their horses forward but were brought up short by Lieutenant Montoya.2009, Matthew Baca, The Antiquarian, →ISBN, page 145
  2. (figuratively) To startle or interrupt (someone), causing them to stop or reevaluate what they are doing.
    • I suppose things can go well for just so long before events bring you up short.2000, Donald S. Vogel, Memories and Images: The World of Donald Vogel and Valley House Gallery, →ISBN
    Synonyms:
    pull up short

Questions about bringing up short

What is bringing up short the present participle and gerund of?
Bringing up short is the present participle and gerund of bring up short.

Words near bringing up short in the dictionary

  1. bringing to the table
  2. bringing together
  3. bringing under
  4. bringing up
  5. bringing up against
  6. bringing up short
  7. bringing up the rear
  8. bringing up to
  9. bringing upon
  10. bringing with
  11. bringings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bringing up short (page history and authors); bring up short (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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