at short notice

• on short notice (chiefly US)

at short notice

1. (chiefly UK) With very little warning or preparation time.
   • 1961 November, “Talking of Trains: "Blue trains" run again”, in Trains Illustrated, page 644:

     This was first introduced on November 7, 1960, but suspended on December 17 because of defects which caused explosions, and a steam service substituted at short notice, as described in our July issue.

• “short notice” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “at short notice” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “at short notice”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “at short notice”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “at short notice” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “at short notice”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.