shorten









shorten


verb (used with object)

  1. to make short or shorter.
  2. to reduce, decrease, take in, etc.: to shorten sail.
  3. to make (pastry, bread, etc.) short, as with butter or other fat.
  4. Sports. choke(def 8).

verb (used without object)

  1. to become short or shorter.
  2. (of odds) to decrease.

verb

  1. to make or become short or shorter
  2. (tr) nautical to reduce the area of (sail)
  3. (tr) to make (pastry, bread, etc) short, by adding butter or another fat
  4. gambling to cause (the odds) to lessen or (of odds) to become less
v.

1510s, “make shorter;” 1560s, “grow shorter,” from short (adj.) + -en (1); the earlier form of the verb was simply short, from Old English sceortian “to grow short, become short; run short, fail,” gescyrtan “to make short.”

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