shorthandnoun/ˈʃɔːthænd/

• 1

  A rough and rapid method of writing by substituting symbols for letters, words, etc.

  • There is a Notion prevails among many People, to yͤ prejudice of all kinds of Short-hand; which is this. That when a Person sets down a Memorandum in his pocket Book in Short-hand, it is lost, in caſe of Death or any other accident, to yͤ rest of yͤ World, though it may contain things of great Consequence to other People. [...] I affirm, [...] that if any Person makes use of my long Short hand, which he will certainly do, in caſe he deſigns that what he writes should be read by another Person, it will be as legible to any one acquainted with this Art, as if it was writ in Round Hand.
  • All ſhort Hands are ſubject to Ambiguity; for there being but 8 Marks to repreſent 24 Letters, and thoſe 8 being uſed for 8 of them in the Short Hand Alphabets, the other Letters muſt be deſcribed by Characters compounded of theſe 8.
• 2

  Any brief or shortened way of saying or doing something.

  • The jargon becomes a shorthand for these advanced concepts.
  • It is important to recall that the European construct of "the Indian" and the abstraction designated as "Native American religion" are both artificial labels suggesting a unity that is nowhere to be found. When we borrow such shorthands, we are really referring to the Arapaho, Blackfeet, Chumash, Delaware, Eskimo, Flathead, Ghost Dancers, Hopi, Iowa—and so on through the rest of the alphabet right to the Yuma and Zuni.

shorthandverb/ˈʃɔːthænd/

• 1

  To render (spoken or written words) into shorthand.

  • All the time she'd pretended to be fiddling with her purse over there behind the man, she'd been shorthanding him down—every word, every quotation, every date, every name.
  • Most everything is in the safe on digital media, but there were some sessions he didn't record. He'd just shorthanded his notes during and after the sessions. I never learned shorthand, so there's no way I could decipher most of it, if you know what I mean.
• 2

  To use a brief or shortened way of saying or doing something.

  • It seems to me, however one looks at it—and I am torpedoing, "shorthanding", my arguments, though they can be developed at great length—that there is no military case for a large standing Army, and I pick out three arguments that I think are tremendously important which I should like the Minister to answer, even though he may reject them.
  • By "home video" I mean to shorthand the practice of viewing at home texts that come to us via a range of sources and formats, such as cable/satellite and pay-per-view television, mail order services (that send in the mail gay-related videotapes to far-flung subscribers), Web-based media, videotapes, laser discs, and dvds.
• 3

  To write in shorthand.

  • Steele nodded and settled on the chesterfield. He regarded Betty seriously, her notebook poised on the table beside her as she reclined in her chair. [...] "I remember," Betty acknowledged, and went on shorthanding.