make short work of (someone or something)

To deal with, finish, or dispose of someone or something very quickly or handily. We'll make short work of this project now that you've joined the team. You made short work of that book you were reading. You must have liked it! Everyone is expecting the team to make short work of their opponents in the upcoming match.

See also: make, of, short, work

make short work of someone or something

and make fast work of someone or something

to finish with someone or something quickly. I made short work of Tom so I could leave the office to play golf. Billy made fast work of his dinner so he could go out and play.

See also: make, of, short, work

make short work of

Complete or consume quickly, as in The children made short work of the ice cream, or They made short work of cleaning up so they could get to the movies. This term, first recorded in 1577, in effect means "to turn something into a brief task."

See also: make, of, short, work

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

make short work of

accomplish, consume, or destroy quickly.

See also: make, of, short, work

make short work of, to

To dispose of something with dispatch. This term, too, is an old one, recorded as far back as 1577, when it appeared in John Grange’s The Golden Aphroditis (“Desirous to make shorte worke thereof ”). A later use was in E. Clodd’s Myths and Dreams (1885): “Criticism has made short work of the romancing chronicles which so long did duty for sober history”(cited by the OED). It is often used jocularly. See also short shrift.