shortcut

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

shortcut
    n 1: a route shorter than the usual one [syn: {shortcut},
         {cutoff}, {crosscut}]

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

shortcut

   <file system> {Microsoft Corporation}'s term for a {symbolic
   link}, stored as a file with extension ".lnk".  Shortcuts
   first appeared in 1996 in the {Windows 95} {operating system}.
   Windows shortcuts can link to any file or directory
   ("folder"), including those on remote computers, using {UNC}
   paths.  Each shortcut can also have its own {icon}.  A
   shortcut that links to an executable file can pass {arguments}
   and specify the directory in which the command should run.
   Unlike a {Unix} {symbolic link}, a shortcut does not always
   behave exactly like the target file or directory.

   Compare {pif}.

   (2001-12-18)

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

53 Moby Thesaurus words for "shortcut":
      air lane, air line, axis, beat, beeline, bypass, chord, circuit,
      course, cut, cutoff, diagonal, diameter, direct line, directrix,
      edge, flight path, great-circle course, itinerary, line, normal,
      orbit, path, perpendicular, primrose path, radius, radius vector,
      right line, road, round, route, run, sea lane, secant, segment,
      shortest way, side, straight, straight course, straight line,
      straight stretch, straightaway, streamline, tangent, tour, track,
      trade route, traject, trajectory, trajet, transversal, vector,
      walk