ˈred-short, a. Metall.
[ad. Sw. rödskört (sc. jern iron) neut. of rödskör, f. röd red + skör brittle: cf. cold-short and see redshire, -share a.]
Of iron: Brittle while in a red-hot condition, owing to excess of sulphur in the metal. Cf. hot-short.
| 1730, 1773 [see cold-short]. 1795 Pearson in Phil. Trans. LXXXV. 342 There is another variety called red short, which is malleable when cold, but brittle when ignited. 1824 Mechanic's Mag. No. 52. 383 Notwithstanding the superior quality of this iron, the bars made from it were..so completely red-short, as to drop asunder. 1868 Joynson Metals 13 The ore also being free from phosphoric acid, the iron was generally red-short. 1884 W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron x. 208 Antimony..produces when present in small quantities in malleable iron, a metal which is both cold-short and red-short. |
Hence red-shortness, the quality or state of being red-short.
| 1868 Joynson Metals 14 Where much sulphur is present in the ore, it produces in the iron the quality known as ‘red-shortness’. 1874 J. A. Phillips Elem. Metallurgy (1887) 323 The exact cause of red-shortness in welded iron is not always very clear. |