Shrift

In Old English, “shrift” meant the confession of sins. So to give something “short shrift” was to give little attention to the details of your sins.

“Shrift” is considered an onsolete word today, so you normally wouldn’t hear outside the context of the phrase “short shrift.”

Why I Looked It Up

I kept hearing it, and I often misunderstood it to be “short shift” When I finally acknowledged that the second word was “shrift,” then I got to wondering what that meant.