short of

1. Except; but; without resorting to; up to the point of.

   He tried everything short of lending her the money himself.

   Short of a miracle, nothing/little short of kneeling before your boss will do.

   • 1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:

     "Short of shooting us all in cold blood how's that going to help you, Mr. Carrados?" asked Larch, coming down to the commonplace of the situation. "It looks like stalemate to me […]"

2. Insufficiently equipped with.

   He's a nice person, but a bit short of brains.

3. Less than.

   An Olympic athlete cannot perform at any level short of world-class.

   • 2025 November 3, Alex Kozul-Wright and News Agencies, “UK train stabbing attack – how it unfolded and what we know now”, in Aljazeera‎^[1]:

     By Sunday night, police said only one remained in a life-threatening condition: a railway staff member who tried to stop the attack. Police called his actions “nothing short of heroic”.

• "Short of" is often used in full-deckisms such as "a few sandwiches short of a picnic" (i.e. "foolish" or "insane"). See a few X short of a Y in Appendix:English snowclones.

• three stops short of Dagenham