Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also taken short) having a desperate desire to visit the lavatory.

1836		‘The Patent S--t-Pot’ in Cockchafer 33: And her bowels they kept up a deuce of a sport, / Till at last the old lady she was taken short. / She was taken so short, with her hand to her breech, / She found that she never the closet could reach.
c.1850		Peeping Tom (London) 38 151/2: [headline] The Gentleman taken short [...] in a violent hurry to do what no one else could do for him.
1930		S.J. Perelman letter 31 Oct. in Crowther Don’t Tread on Me (1987) 7: The gent caught short in Central Park, slips into the bushes and lets down his galluses.
1954		E. Hemingway letter 18 Aug. in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 835: He thought the child had been caught short.
1963–74		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 18: What a lousy country. Can’t a bloke be caught short.
1973		B.S. Johnson All Bull 186: Rumour had it that he had been caught short in the crisis. The only man in the latrine when the camp was abandoned.
1984		‘Derek Raymond’ He Died with His Eyes Open 9: An office worker tripped over the body when he was caught short going home.
1991		Reeves & Mortimer Vic Reeves Big Night Out n.p.: I choose not to wear trousers [...] as I have been caught short on a number of occasions.
1998		R.G. Barrett Goodoo Goodoo 204: He suddenly found himself caught short. The last two beers [...] must have gone straight through him.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.
2005		(ref. to 1950s) A. Bennett Untold Stories (2006) 67: The bucket under the sink for the tea leaves and slops and (when caught short) pee.

2. in an emergency or unforseen situation.

1929		B. De Beck Barney Google [comic strip] Oh, what a patsy I am to get caught short like this.
1936		R.F. Adams Cowboy Lingo 166: To be unarmed was ‘caught short’.
1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 873: What a hell of a time to be caught short with a hangover!
1960		Wodehouse Jeeves in the Offing 8: We’ve been caught short as usual, and somebody has got to make a speech on ideals.
1969		Iowa City Press-Citizen 28 Apr. 4/5: It is better for the United States to be overprepared ‘rather than be caught shoret without proper defences’.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 26/1: caught short to be surprised without supplies of money, hospitality, etc.
1992		L.A. Times 28 Jan. D9/5: Don’t get caught short. Money Market Fund Average Yields.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

3. of a woman, surprised by menstruation starting, beyond reach of tampons, sanitary towels etc.

1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 26/1: caught short [...] a sudden need to urinate or defecate, or menstruate with no tampons available.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

4. (US) a euph. phr. meaning expecting a child out of wedlock.

1960

in DARE.