From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishshort of (doing) somethingshort of (doing) somethingIFwithout actually doing something Short of locking her in her room, he couldn’t really stop her from seeing Jack. → short
Examples from the Corpus
short of (doing) something• A pair to fit wellies which reach right up to the knee cost a penny short of a fiver.• San Francisco may be running short of characters, but new communities pop up every day.• Apart from Ferkhan, everybody was short of food.• Even in the best of years, Journal news coverage inevitably falls short of perfection.• The company said its earnings would fall short of previous expectations mainly because of lower earnings from its Gulf Printing unit.• Short of selling the house, I don't know how we're going to get that amount of money.• That is nothing short of stupidity.• The House vote fell well short of the 291 required to override a veto. 