Ordnance which is landing short of the intended target.

A cartridge in which the bullet is seated below the specified minimum length.

One or more "side kick" type companions to an individual on a quest or mission to accomplish. (Modern usage, after year 1984.)

A less than maximum propellant charge used in an artillery piece.

Short Round was the name of Steven Spielberg’s dog, who was literally both short and round. It was a dog he got not long after the Indiana Jones movie with the boy sidekick named Short Round was released. I read it in a Rolling Stone article back in the day.

Gene Evans had the lead role in the 1951 movie The Steel Helmet. A Korean War film, an English speaking Korean boy enters the picture early on and stays with Evans throughout. He is dubbed Short Round and is about the same age as Harrison Ford's buddy. The term is even older, but whether there is an older movie character I do not know.