shorthand
(ˈʃɔːthænd)
Also short hand (rare), short-hand.
[f. short a. + hand n.]
a. A method of speedy writing by means of the substitution of contractions or arbitrary signs or symbols for letters, words, etc., brachygraphy, stenography.
| 1636 Jeffrey Hudson's New Yeeres Gift title-p., With a Letter as it was penned in short-hand. 1639 Mayne City Match i. iii, Shall I not learn Arithmetic too, sir, and Short⁓hand. 1724 R. Falconer Voy. (1769) 98 His Journals were mostly taken in Short-Hand. 1864 Soc. Sci. Rev. 220 A species of shorthand was practised in the time of Cicero. 1909 Athenæum 13 Mar. 1/3 The training includes Indexing, Shorthand, Type-writing, Stenotypy. |
b. transf. and
fig.| 1697 Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. ii. (1709) 126 Tis the Short⁓hand of the mind and crowds a great deal into a little space. 1801 Busby Dict. Mus. p. xxxii, These abbreviations form a musical Brachygraphy, or Short Hand. 1827 Hare Guesses Ser. i. (1873) 4 To address the prejudices of our hearers is to argue with them in short-hand. 1894 H. Drummond Ascent of Man 232 To save time the objects were drawn in shorthand—a couple of dashes for the limbs and one across, as in the Chinese for man. 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. v. 124 The We're Here rang her bell thrice, using sea shorthand. 1931 E. A. Robertson Four Frightened People ii. 57 Arnold Ainger spoke exactly the same language as we did... It is possible to talk from the first in mental shorthand with such an acquaintance. 1960 N. Mitford Don't tell Alfred xiv. 158 Americans..need the dissertation; the kind of shorthand that we talk would be useless to them. 1970 Guardian 10 July 10/6 ‘Oxfash’ is undergraduate shorthand for the establishment of councillors, planners, shopkeepers, and dons. |
c. attrib. as in
shorthand clerk,
shorthand minute,
shorthand note,
shorthand notebook,
shorthand pad,
shorthand report,
shorthand reporter,
shorthand teacher,
shorthand writer,
shorthand writing;
† short-hand-man, a shorthand writer;
shorthand typist, one who takes down dictation in shorthand and then types out the text.
| 1647 J. Berkenhead Assembly-Man (1662–3) 17, I admire the *Short-hand-men, who have the patience to write from his Mouth. 1682 Owtram Serm. A 2 b, They were taken from the author by a Short-hand-man. |
| 1822–29 Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) I. 420 Copying my *short-hand minutes of medical lectures. |
| 1709 Female Tatler No. 4/2, I took *Short-hand-Notes. |
| 1903 G. B. Shaw Man & Superman i. 2 He has no secretary with a *shorthand notebook. 1977 A. Morice Scared to Death xxiii. 154 A single page of lined paper, perforated at the top and obviously torn from a shorthand notebook. |
| 1960 C. Morris Unloved 463 Janet is making notes on a *shorthand pad. 1977 M. Babson Lord Mayor of Death iv. 36 The recording officer began noting the words in his shorthand pad. |
| 1831 D. E. Williams Sir T. Lawrence I. 401 The following is the *short-hand report of his evidence. |
| 1881 ‘Mark Twain’ Lett. to Publishers (1967) 147 A *short-hand reporter to travel with us in the spring. 1887 Ld. Rosebery in Standard 27 Sept. 2/4 The first authorised shorthand reporter in a Court of Law. |
| a 1704 T. Brown Laconics Wks. 1711 IV. 12 'Tis wisely done..of a *Short-hand teacher [to live next door] to a Meeting-house. |
| 1901 Phonetic Jrnl. 24 Aug. 541 To a large extent the occupation of the *shorthand-typist has hitherto been synonymous with the lady typist. 1926 I. Pitman Dictation Practice in Bus. Corr. Pref. p. i, In addition to business correspondence, the shorthand-typist is frequently called upon to complete forms. 1973 J. R. L. Anderson Death on Rocks i. 21 She had worked as a shorthand typist. |
| a 1734 North Exam. iii. viii. §76 (1740) 642 The Party Men attended with their *Short-hand Writers at their Elbows, to take what might incautelously..slip from the Mouths of the Judges, for Matter of Accusation. 1904 Spencer Autobiog. II. 292 The amanuensis was a short⁓hand-writer. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 140 There was not even one shorthandwriter in the hall. 1964 T. L. Kinsey Audio-Typing & Electric Typewriters ii. 7 Any audio-typist can transcribe audio-dictation—the dictation is never lost, as can be the case with written notes recorded in an absent shorthand-writer's notebook. |
| 1641 Wilkins Mercury xii. (1707) 52 This *Short-hand Writing is now so ordinary in Practice [etc.]. 1747 Richardson Clarissa I. xii. 68 He is a complete master of shorthand writing. |
d. quasi-adj. Of the nature of shorthand; compendious.
| 1822 W. Irving Braceb. Hall (1823) II. 26 Every new short-hand mode of doing things. 1844 De Quincey Logic Pol. Econ. Pref. 8 A short-hand expression for the relation between the quantity offered for sale, and the quantity demanded. 1887 Saintsbury Hist. Elizab. Lit. vii. (1890) 275 The recourse to dumb show..looks like a kind of short⁓hand indication of scenes that might have been worked out. |
Hence
ˈshorthand v., (
a)
trans., to transcribe in shorthand; also
fig.; (
b)
intr., to use shorthand;
† ˈshort-handed a.1, competent to write shorthand;
ˈshorthander, a writer of shorthand, a stenographer.
| a 1658 Cleveland Count. Com. Man Poems (1677) 99 A new blew stockin'd Justice..with a short-handed Clerk, tack'd to the Rear of him to carry the Knapsack of his Understanding. 1738 Thyer Byrom's Rem. (1856) II. i. 198 We arrive at Hartley's where we accidentally find a party of shorthanders. 1898 L. Stephen Stud. Biogr. I. iii. 86 The meetings of the shorthanders naturally took place at taverns. 1928 John Blunt 11 Aug. 1/3 (heading) Shorthand it! 1936 Punch 15 Jan. 60/1 All I wanted..was a secretary—just an ordinary girl who could shorthand and typewrite and answer a telephone and so on. 1975 Times Lit. Suppl. 28 Feb. 210/4 The urbanized cluster of inlets and coastal fringe the Venetians shorthanded as La Dominante. 1975 I. K. Martin Regan & Manhattan File 37 One of Broughton's silent colleagues had a notebook out, shorthanding Regan's words. 1977 Monitor (McAllen, Texas) 17 July 5F/6 ‘Shorthand’ has also become quite popular in what is jocularly referred to in Hollywood as the ‘creative community’. Ask a producer what his show is all about and he'll never say, ‘I don't know.’ He says instead, ‘There's no way to shorthand that.’ |