Idioms

shrift

Also found in: Dictionary, Wikipedia.

get short shrift

To be or feel ignored, disregarded, or excluded; to get very little time or attention. As the middle child with a troublesome older brother and a needy younger sister, I felt like I got short shrift growing up. Despite the urgency of the problem, the minister's proposed solutions are getting short shrift in parliament. I'm not good at math, and I always felt like I got short shrift in math class because teachers would get impatient with all my questions.
See also: get, short, shrift

give short shrift

To ignore, disregard, or exclude (someone or something); to give (someone or something) very little time or attention. A noun or pronoun can be used between "give" and "short." As the middle child with a troublesome older brother and a needy younger sister, I felt like I was given short shrift growing up. Despite its urgency, ministers are giving the issue short shrift in parliament. I'm not good at math, and I always felt like my teachers gave me short shrift because they were annoyed by all my questions.
See also: give, short, shrift

give short shrift to (someone or something)

To ignore, disregard, or exclude someone or something; to give someone or something very little time or attention. Growing up, I was the most well-behaved kid in the house, so I feel like my parents gave short shrift to me and my problems. Despite its urgency, ministers are giving short shrift to the issue in parliament. I'm not good at math, and I always felt like my teachers gave short shrift to me because they were annoyed by all my questions.
See also: give, short, shrift, to

short shrift

A minimal amount of time, attention, or consideration given to someone. (Typically used in the phrases "give/get short shrift.") Despite the urgency of the problem, the minister's proposed solutions are getting short shrift in parliament. As the middle child with a troublesome older brother and a needy younger sister, I felt like I was given short shrift growing up.
See also: short, shrift
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

short shrift

a brief period of consideration of a person's ideas or explanations. They gave the reporter short shrift and got him out of the office. My plan got short shrift from the board—a ten-minute presentation; they then voted it down.
See also: short, shrift
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

short shrift, give

Also, get short shrift. Give (or receive) cursory attention or little time. For example, The architect made elaborate plans for the entry but gave short shift to the back of the house . Literally, shrift refers to confession to a priest, who gives absolution and penance, and short shrift to the brief time allowed for this sacrament to a prisoner before execution. Shakespeare so used it in Richard III (3:4), but it came to be used more loosely in succeeding centuries. [Late 1800s]
See also: give, short
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.

get short shrift

COMMON If someone or something gets short shrift, they are treated very rudely or given very little attention. Unfortunately, these proposals are likely to get short shrift from the government. Anyone who complains will get short shrift from me. Note: You can also say that someone gives someone or something short shrift. When I was a waitress I gave short shrift to customers who got on my nerves. Such objections are likely to be given short shrift by the committee. Note: `Shrift' is an old word meaning confession to a priest. In the past, condemned criminals were allowed only a few minutes to make their confession before they were executed.
See also: get, short, shrift
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

short shrift

rapid and unsympathetic dismissal; curt treatment.
Shrift literally denotes penance imposed after confession to a priest, and historically short shrift referred to a very brief allowance of time between condemnation and execution or other punishment.
2002 Art in America Edward Strickland's Minimalism: Origins , published in 1993 , gives surprisingly short shrift to the Minimalists of the 1960s.
See also: short, shrift
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

give somebody/something short ˈshrift

,

get short ˈshrift

give somebody/something/get little attention or sympathy: Mrs Jones gave my suggestion very short shrift. I was quite surprised. ♢ When Ann complained about the toilets, she got very short shrift. Shrift was the act of confessing your crimes, etc. to a priest and being forgiven. If a person was given short shrift they were only allowed a short time to do this between being found guilty and being executed or punished.
See also: give, short, shrift, somebody, something
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

short shrift, to get/give

To spend little time on. The term comes from the days when confessing to a priest was a virtually universal practice. Shrift meant not only the confession but also the penance or absolution given by the priest following confession. In Shakespeare’s Richard III, Ratclif, ordered by Gloucester (later Richard III) to have Hastings beheaded, says to him, “Come, come, dispatch; the duke would be at dinner: make a short shrift, he longs to see your head.” It began to be used more loosely in succeeding centuries, as in the quotation under look daggers at.
See also: get, give, short, to
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
See also:
References in periodicals archive
ENGINEERING firm Babcock International yesterday revealed an approach for rival VT Group worth more than pounds 1bn, but said it was given short shrift by its takeover target.
Babcock rebuffed after VT approach
Elsewhere, Ryan is given short shrift when he tries to apologise to Katie.
Pick of the day
"The Book of Shrift," a 4000-line penitential handbook in verse (Index of Middle English Verse 694), forms one of the typical additions to the original text of Cursor Mundi.
The transmission of "The Book of Shrift"
RYANAIR received short shrift when it threatened British satirical magazine Private Eye with "legal proceedings" unless it handed over pounds 1,000 to the charity Orbis Ireland.
Short shrift for Ryanair
CAMBODIA will give short shrift to short a*ses in a bid to compete with the big boys.
WORLD OF FOOTBALL: Transforming puny Asians is a tall order
So, for example, while Lincoln School of Architecture, the extensions to Keble College Oxford, and a house in Hampstead called The Priory are described and analysed comprehensively, the alterations to the Ashmolean Museum and the various university masterplans get short shrift.
MATHER ENLIGHTENMENT
The government hopes that Wal-Mart de Mexico will focus on low-income consumers given short shrift by the large banks.
Wal-Mart's bank bid
And yet the most powerful metaphor in the theatrical lexicon, dance, is given short shrift in the contemporary theater.
On broadway: with The Persians, the National Theater of Greece shows how powerfully choreography can enhance a straight play
Filled with charts and illustrations, the authors present their case well, but they give short shrift to some of the problems with increased energy use, including global warming and the destruction of habitat.
Huber, Peter W. & Mills, Mark P. The bottomless well; the twilight of fuel, the virtue of waste, and why we will never run out of energy
(See accompanying budget recommendations.) Not to say that treatment and research should get short shrift. We'd nearly double Ryan White spending to $4 billion--including $1 billion for ADAP--and dramatically expand NIH research binding from the $2.888 billion proposed by President Bush to $10 billion.
Fixing HIV spending: leading AIDS advocates agree that a doubling of federal funding could make a dramatic difference in the fight against the disease, though they diverge when asked how they would allocate the additional money
Quantitative measures of the state of the humanities are especially useful for college and university leaders who may be tempted in curricular and budget planning to give these fields short shrift. The humanities may not always be popular among students, but they are the heart of a liberal arts education.
Taking the pulse of the humanities: the federal government should play a greater role in tracking humanities indicators
Northern Ontario's mining-based economy also got short shrift in the budget.
There is a hole in your budget dear Stephen, dear Tony
Catholic League President Bill Donohue made this point in comparing the short shrift his group's complaints get from the media with the deference shown to Muslims.
Cartoons makes cowards of us all: American editors pine: "if we only had the nerve."
A National Post editorial (March 29, 2006) described the situation of Christians in the Middle East as "dire" and lamented the short shrift this is being given in Western media.
Whither Iraqi Christians?
When it comes to the three "Rs" of environment often seems that the first R--reduce--receives short shrift. And when it comes to energy policy, reducing impact means conserving energy--something that's simple in theory but which has often been at the center of heated debate.
Compassionate conservation: a real answer to high oil prices
Copyright © 2003-2025 Farlex, Inc Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.