Adjacent Words

Shorten definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SHORTEN, v.t. short'n.
1. To make short in measure, extent or time; as, to shorten distance; to shorten a road; to shorten days of calamity.
2. To abridge; to lessen; as, to shorten labor or work.
3. To curtail; as, to shorten the hair by clipping.
4. To contract; to lessen; to diminish in extent or amount; as, to shorten sail; to shorten an allowance of provisions.
5. To confine; to restrain.
Here where the subject is so fruitful, I am shortened by my chain. Dryden.
6. To lop; to deprive.
The youth-shortened of his ears. Dryden.
SHORTEN, v.i. short'n.
1. To become short or shorter. The day shortens in northern latitudes from June to December.
2. To contract; as, a cord shortens by being wet; a metallic rod shortens by cold.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: make shorter than originally intended; reduce or retrench in length or duration; "He shortened his trip due to illness" [ant: lengthen]
2: reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened" [syn: abridge, foreshorten, abbreviate, shorten, cut, contract, reduce] [ant: dilate, elaborate, enlarge, expand, expatiate, exposit, expound, flesh out, lucubrate]
3: make short or shorter; "shorten the skirt"; "shorten the rope by a few inches"
4: become short or shorter; "In winter, the days shorten" [ant: lengthen]
5: edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate; "bowdlerize a novel" [syn: bowdlerize, bowdlerise, expurgate, castrate, shorten]

Merriam Webster's

verb (shortened; shortening) Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. a. to reduce the length or duration of b. to cause to seem short 2. a. to reduce in power or efficiency <is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem — Isaiah
50:2 (Revised Standard Version)> b. obsolete to deprive of effect 3. to add fat to (as pastry dough) in order to make tender and flaky intransitive verb to become short or shorter • shortener noun Synonyms: shorten, curtail, abbreviate, abridge, retrench mean to reduce in extent. shorten implies reduction in length or duration <shorten a speech>. curtail adds an implication of cutting that in some way deprives of completeness or adequacy <ceremonies curtailed because of rain>. abbreviate implies a making shorter usually by omitting some part <using an abbreviated title>. abridge implies a reduction in compass or scope with retention of essential elements and a relative completeness in the result <the abridged version of the novel>. retrench suggests a reduction in extent or costs of something felt to be excessive <declining business forced the company to retrench>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 intr. & tr. become or make shorter or short; curtail. 2 tr. Naut. reduce the amount of (sail spread). 3 intr. & tr. (with reference to gambling odds, prices, etc.) become or make shorter; decrease.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Shorten Short"en, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shortened ?; p. pr. & vb. n. Shortening.] [See Short, a.] 1. To make short or shorter in measure, extent, or time; as, to shorten distance; to shorten a road; to shorten days of calamity. 2. To reduce or diminish in amount, quantity, or extent; to lessen; to abridge; to curtail; to contract; as, to shorten work, an allowance of food, etc. Here, where the subject is so fruitful, I am shortened by my chain. --Dryden. 3. To make deficient (as to); to deprive; -- with of. Spoiled of his nose, and shortened of his ears. --Dryden. 4. To make short or friable, as pastry, with butter, lard, pot liquor, or the like. To shorten a rope (Naut.), to take in the slack of it. To shorten sail (Naut.), to reduce sail by taking it in.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Shorten Short"en, v. i. To become short or shorter; as, the day shortens in northern latitudes from June to December; a metallic rod shortens by cold.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(shortens, shortening, shortened) 1. If you shorten an event or the length of time that something lasts, or if it shortens, it does not last as long as it would otherwise do or as it used to do. Smoking can shorten your life... When the days shorten in winter some people suffer depression. ? lengthen VERB: V n, V 2. If you shorten an object or if it shortens, it becomes smaller in length. Her father paid £1,000 for an operation to shorten her nose... As they shorten, cells become more prone to disease and death. ? lengthen VERB: V n, V 3. If you shorten a name or other word, you change it by removing some of the letters. Originally called Lili, she eventually shortened her name to Lee. VERB: V n 4. to shorten the odds: see odds

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

shor'-t'-n: The Hebrew word qatsar and the Greek koloboo literally indicate abbreviation of time or space (Ps 89:45; Pr 10:27; Eze 42:5); figuratively they point to limitation of power or of suffering (Nu 11:23; Isa 50:2; 59:1; Mt 24:22; Mr 13:20).

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Abbreviate, abridge, cut short, curtail. 2. Lessen, diminish, reduce, abridge. 3. Curtail, cut off. 4. Contract, lessen, diminish, retrench. 5. Confine, restrain, restrict, hinder. 6. Deprive, lop.

Moby Thesaurus

abate, abbreviate, abrade, abridge, abstract, bate, be telegraphic, bob, bobtail, boil down, brief, capsule, capsulize, circumscribe, clip, coarct, compact, compress, concentrate, condense, consolidate, constrict, constringe, contract, cramp, crop, curtail, cut, cut back, cut down, cut off short, cut short, damp, dampen, decrease, deduct, deflate, depreciate, depress, derogate, detract, digest, diminish, disparage, dock, downgrade, drain, draw, draw in, draw together, eat away, elide, epitomize, erode, excerpt, extract, file away, foreshorten, hem, impair, knit, leach, lessen, lower, minify, minimize, mow, narrow, nip, nutshell, outline, pare, poll, pollard, prune, pucker, pucker up, purify, purse, reap, recap, recapitulate, reduce, refine, remove, retrench, roll back, rub away, scale down, shave, shear, shrink, simplify, sketch, sketch out, slash, snub, solidify, step down, strangle, strangulate, stunt, subduct, subtract, sum up, summarize, synopsize, take away, take from, take in, telescope, thin, thin out, trim, truncate, tune down, waste no words, wear away, weed, withdraw, wrinkle