bring up short
English
[edit]Verb
[edit]bring up short (third-person singular simple present brings up short, present participle bringing up short, simple past and past participle brought up short)
- To arrest (someone or something's) forward motion; to halt before a goal is reached.
- 2009, Matthew Baca, The Antiquarian, →ISBN, page 145:
- The soldiers spurred their horses forward but were brought up short by Lieutenant Montoya.
- 2010, Steven Erikson, The First Collected Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, →ISBN:
- Frowning, Guld stepped forward, but was brought up short by the guardsman's hand.
- 2014, Jane Feather -, Trapped at the Altar, →ISBN:
- As soon as its paws touched ground, it darted forward with an excited yelp, only to be brought up short by the ribbon around its neck.
- (figurative) To startle or interrupt (someone), causing them to stop or reevaluate what they are doing.
- 2000, Donald S. Vogel, Memories and Images: The World of Donald Vogel and Valley House Gallery, →ISBN:
- I suppose things can go well for just so long before events bring you up short.
- 2006, Richard Wilk, Home Cooking in the Global Village, →ISBN:
- Some of us are lucky enough to have students who ask sharp questions that bring us up short and force us back to basic and difficult issues.
- 2010, Robert Coles, David Cooper, Lives We Carry with Us: Profiles of Moral Courage, →ISBN, page 49:
- The article was intended to bring readers up short, to prompt in them a thought or two about why they were doing what, day in and day out.
- 2012, Paul P. Bernard, Joseph II and Bavaria, →ISBN:
- Any minister to whom it might occur that a change would be desirable would certainly be brought up short at the prospect of alienating the heir to the throne.