the long and (the) short of the matter
(redirected from the long and the short of the matter)the long and (the) short of the matter
The main idea or facts of something. That's the long and the short of the matter. If you want more details, you'll have to ask Laura. The long and short of the matter is that Kyle is quitting, so we need to fill his position fast.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
long and the short of it/the matter, the
The essence of the matter; in a nutshell. This expression, sometimes reversed (that is, the short and the long of something), dates from the fourteenth century. Shakespeare preferred the reversed form (Henry V, 3.2; The Merry Wives of Windsor, 2.1), but by the end of the seventeenth century long nearly always preceded short.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer