short weight

short weight (uncountable)

1. Weight that is less than that declared or less than one is charged for.
   • 1931, Frederick Bradshaw, A Social History of England‎, 3rd edition, London: W. B. Clive, page 79:

     However, in the face of irrefutable evidence that at a time when England was able to grow her own food supplies provision dealers wilfully adulterated their goods or gave short weight, we cannot be surprised that the punishments inflicted went beyond fines.

   • 1963, “Consumer Protection in Great Britain”, in Report of the 48th National Conference on Weights and Measures 1963‎, Washington D.C.: US Government Printing Office, page 34:

     The need to protect the customer against deception and short weight in the sale of coal led the Government to introduce legislation to prohibit the giving of short weight as early as 1889, hence the special provisions in Part II of the Weights and Measures Act, 1889, regulating the sale of coal and imposing penalties for short weight, frauds by draymen, etc.