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make a long story short

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make a long story short

 and cut a long story short

to leave out parts of a story to make it shorter; to bring a story to an end. (A formula that introduces a summary of a story or a joke. See also long story short.) And—to make a long story short—I never got back the money that I lent him. If I can make a long story short, let me say that everything worked out fine.

See also: long, make, short, story

make a long story short

Get to the point, as in To make a long story short, they got married and moved to Omaha. Although the idea of abbreviating a long-winded account is ancient, this precise phrase dates only from the 1800s. Henry David Thoreau played on it in a letter of 1857: "Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long time to make it short."

See also: long, make, short, story