"short strokes" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "Possibly an allusion to painting, in which a painter typically finishes a work with short, careful, finishing strokes of the paint brush, or to golf, in which a player concludes each hole by making short strokes with a putter.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p",
        "head": "short strokes"
      },
      "expansion": "short strokes pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "94 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "79 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English pluralia tantum",
          "parents": [
            "Pluralia tantum",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "_dis1": "72 28",
          "word": "down to the short strokes"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1990, M. E. Morris, The Last Kamikaze, page 242",
          "text": "He knows they are in the short strokes—it's almost over.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998 January 8, Peter Botte, “Straw Signing Official Today”, in New York Daily News, retrieved 2009-05-18",
          "text": "Ironing out the short strokes has taken a little longer than expected, but it all should be worth the wait for Strawberry when the Yankees officially announce today they have re-signed the rehabbed slugger.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, William Annett, The Final Undertaking, page 87",
          "text": "Sly and Dave Chandler having set the deal, and Al McAfee moving in to do the legal fine points, Maxwell and Johnson tumbled into our lap for just over a million in cash up front and about twice that in Slumberhaven stock and options. I didn't even have to get involved, except for the short strokes toward the end.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The final steps of an undertaking, especially one which has been lengthy or laborious."
      ],
      "id": "en-short_strokes-en-noun-p7Be6Esy",
      "links": [
        [
          "the",
          "the#English"
        ],
        [
          "undertaking",
          "undertaking"
        ],
        [
          "lengthy",
          "lengthy"
        ],
        [
          "laborious",
          "laborious"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "usually preceded by the",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, usually preceded by the) The final steps of an undertaking, especially one which has been lengthy or laborious."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "72 28",
          "word": "broad strokes"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "sense": "final steps",
          "word": "finishing touches"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "sense": "final steps",
          "word": "final effort"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "sense": "final steps",
          "word": "last gasp"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "final steps of an undertaking",
          "word": "loppusuora"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, Martin Levin, \"Shelf Life\" (review of Close Range by Annie Proulx), Globe and Mail (Canada), 15 Jan., p. D13",
          "text": "She can evoke an entire scene in short strokes, as in this from \"The Wamsutter Wolf\": \"This trailer was in ruins, broken-backed because its west end had slipped off the cinder-block supports. All the windows had been shot out.\""
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Bare essentials."
      ],
      "id": "en-short_strokes-en-noun-UP7uI8no",
      "links": [
        [
          "Bare",
          "bare"
        ],
        [
          "essential",
          "essential"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Bare essentials."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-short strokes.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c7/En-au-short_strokes.ogg/En-au-short_strokes.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/En-au-short_strokes.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "short strokes"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English pluralia tantum",
    "English terms with audio links"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "down to the short strokes"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Possibly an allusion to painting, in which a painter typically finishes a work with short, careful, finishing strokes of the paint brush, or to golf, in which a player concludes each hole by making short strokes with a putter.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p",
        "head": "short strokes"
      },
      "expansion": "short strokes pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "broad strokes"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1990, M. E. Morris, The Last Kamikaze, page 242",
          "text": "He knows they are in the short strokes—it's almost over.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998 January 8, Peter Botte, “Straw Signing Official Today”, in New York Daily News, retrieved 2009-05-18",
          "text": "Ironing out the short strokes has taken a little longer than expected, but it all should be worth the wait for Strawberry when the Yankees officially announce today they have re-signed the rehabbed slugger.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, William Annett, The Final Undertaking, page 87",
          "text": "Sly and Dave Chandler having set the deal, and Al McAfee moving in to do the legal fine points, Maxwell and Johnson tumbled into our lap for just over a million in cash up front and about twice that in Slumberhaven stock and options. I didn't even have to get involved, except for the short strokes toward the end.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The final steps of an undertaking, especially one which has been lengthy or laborious."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "the",
          "the#English"
        ],
        [
          "undertaking",
          "undertaking"
        ],
        [
          "lengthy",
          "lengthy"
        ],
        [
          "laborious",
          "laborious"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "usually preceded by the",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, usually preceded by the) The final steps of an undertaking, especially one which has been lengthy or laborious."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, Martin Levin, \"Shelf Life\" (review of Close Range by Annie Proulx), Globe and Mail (Canada), 15 Jan., p. D13",
          "text": "She can evoke an entire scene in short strokes, as in this from \"The Wamsutter Wolf\": \"This trailer was in ruins, broken-backed because its west end had slipped off the cinder-block supports. All the windows had been shot out.\""
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Bare essentials."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Bare",
          "bare"
        ],
        [
          "essential",
          "essential"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Bare essentials."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-short strokes.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c7/En-au-short_strokes.ogg/En-au-short_strokes.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/En-au-short_strokes.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "final steps",
      "word": "finishing touches"
    },
    {
      "sense": "final steps",
      "word": "final effort"
    },
    {
      "sense": "final steps",
      "word": "last gasp"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "final steps of an undertaking",
      "word": "loppusuora"
    }
  ],
  "word": "short strokes"
}