short-sheet
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to fold and tuck in the top sheet of (a bed) so that it simulates both the top and bottom sheets: when the victim of this prank enters the bed, their legs are obstructed by the fold.
We're going to short-sheet Johnny's bed to pay him back for tattling.
-
to prank (someone) by folding and tucking in the top sheet of their bed so that it simulates both the top and bottom sheets: when the victim of this prank enters the bed, their legs are obstructed by the fold.
As if it wasn't a bad enough day already, I got short-sheeted tonight.
Etymology
Origin of short-sheet
First recorded in 1940–45 in the sense “trick, pull a prank”
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.