come up short

Question

"you realize it's my ass if you come up short again"  ,a line from a movie is "come up short" an idiom?what's the meaning of that?thanks

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

is "come up short" an idiom? Yes.

I had to pay my rent yesterday. I got some money from the bank. I got some money from my friend. But I still came up short. I didn't have enough.

Tom was second in the race. Near the finish line, he tried really hard and almost caught the runner in front. But at the end, he came up short.

It means to try to achieve a goal (eg pay the rent, win the race), and to have some success but finally to fail.

". . . it's my *** if you come up short again" means 'I'm in big trouble if you fail again'.

Best wishes, Clive

Anonymous · Answer

"Come up short" = "fail to achieve your goal"

come up short

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