caught short en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Etymology
Compare French prendre de court.
Meanings
-
(UK, euphemistic, not-comparable) Needing to use the toilet at a point where no toilet facilities are available.
Some clever person came up with the apt name of little John (or big John for the optimist) for a suitably shaped container for those who were caught short.
2009, Colin Cox, Short Hops Across the Atlantic, page 174:
- (idiomatic, informal, not-comparable) unprepared or without enough of something when it is needed