short shrift

Diſpatch my Lo[rd] the Duke would be at dinner: / Make a ſhort ſhrift, he longs to ſee your head.

This is first known occurrence of the term in print.

"Here is a spy of the enemy, General," said the Sergeant. / "Make short shrift of him! We have no time for court-martials now." / "He's been condemned already, sir. He's the same man that was rescued from under the gallows by Commodore Stout's men."

Short were his shrift in that debate, / That hour of fury and of fate, / If Lorn encounter'd Bruce!]

The bank gave me short shrift when I applied for a loan.

[L]ast week that scoundrel of a factor went to the hut with two of his men and seized the cow because they couldn't pay the rent—said his lordship advised him to give short shrift, since indulgence did not pay—that he himself was in want of money for his travels, and must get the rents of Uribol.