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shorten

Pronunciation: /ˈʃɔːtn̩/

The English word “shorten” has 9 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To make shorter; to abbreviate.
  2. To become shorter.
  3. To make deficient (as to); to deprive (of).
  4. To make short or friable, as pastry, with butter, lard, etc.
  5. To reduce or diminish in amount, quantity, or extent; to lessen.
  6. To make crumbly.
  7. To take in the slack of (a rope).
  8. To reduce (sail) by taking it in.
  9. to dress (a baby) in a short (rather than long) gown

Etymology

From Middle English shortnen, schortenen, equivalent to short + -en (verbal suffix). In some senses, a continuation (in altered form) of Middle English schorten (“to make short, shorten”), from Old English sċortian (“to become short”), from Proto-Germanic *skurtōną (“to shorten”).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.