the long and short

English

Noun

the long and short

1. (idiomatic, usually followed by of) The gist; the essence or substance; the most important or salient features.

   The speech went on for hours, but the long and short of it is that not much has changed since last year.

Synonyms

• digest, summary, upshot

Translations

gist

• Russian: самая (samaja) суть (sutʹ) (sámaja sútʼ) f

See also

• in a nutshell