A History of Short Words

From the New York Times Crossword Puzzle

NUB

Sun, 10 Dec '23
Bump on a log, say
Fri, 28 Apr '23
Lump
Wed, 8 Mar '23
Gist
Thu, 25 Aug '22
Well-used pencil, say
Sat, 1 Jan '22
Central point
Sun, 23 May '21
Crux of the matter