abridge

present singular third person abridges · participle present abridging · participle past abridged · past abridged

1. archaictransitiveTo deprive; to cut off.First known use First attested around 1150–1350
2. archaicraretransitiveTo debar from.First known use First attested around 1150–1350
3. transitiveTo make shorter; to shorten in duration or extent.First known use First attested around 1350–1470

   The bridegroom, perceiving his condition, abridged the visit […]

   1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   She retired her self to Sebaste, and abridged her train from State to necessity.

   1639, Thomas Fuller, The Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, Book 2, Chapter 31, p. 85

4. transitiveTo shorten or contract by using fewer words, yet retaining the sense; to epitomize; to condense.First known use First attested in 1384

   Such an episode in the Island's grand naval story her naval historians naturally abridge; one of them (G.P.R. James) candidly acknowledging that fain would he pass it over did not "impartiality forbid fastidiousness."

   1891, Henry Melville, chapter 3, in Billy Budd

   1 more example

   It was still necessary for the man who had been formerly saluted by the highest authority as dictator of the English language to supply his wants by constant toil. He abridged his Dictionary. He proposed to bring out an edition of Shakespeare by subscription, and many subscribers sent in their names and laid down their money; but he soon found the task so little to his taste that he turned to more attractive employments.

   1911, Samuel Johnson, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica

5. transitiveCut short; truncate.First known use First attested around 1350–1470
6. transitiveTo curtail.First known use First attested around 1350–1470

   He had his rights abridged by the crooked sheriff.

1. A village in Essex, England.