abbreviate

present singular third person abbreviates · participle present abbreviating · participle past abbreviated · past abbreviated

1. obsoletetransitiveTo shorten by omitting parts or details.First known use Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 17ᵗʰ century.

   But it is one Thing, to Abbreuiate by Contracting, Another by Cutting off: […]

   1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Dispatch. XXV.”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, pages 142–143

2. intransitiveobsoleteTo speak or write in a brief manner.First known use Attested from the late 16ᵗʰ century until the early 17ᵗʰ century.
3. transitiveTo make shorter; to shorten (in time); to abridge; to shorten by ending sooner than planned.First known use First attested from around (1350 to 1470).

   1 more example

   But as delivery schedules have dwindled into hours, even the gigantic warehouse full of stuff in a central place such as the triangle is proving insufficient. Now, companies also need smaller distribution centres around the country, to respond rapidly to orders and to abbreviate the last mile as much as possible.

   2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Nov 2019

4. transitiveTo reduce a word or phrase by means of contraction or omission to a shorter recognizable form.First known use First attested in the late 16ᵗʰ century.

   Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is more commonly known by its abbreviated form BSE.

   1 more example

   Alana abbreviated "involuntarily celibate" to "invcel", until someone suggested that "incel" was easier to say.

   2018 August 29, Jim Taylor, “The woman who founded the 'incel' movement”, in BBC

5. transitivemathematicsTo reduce to lower terms, as a fraction.

   Synonyms: simplify

comparative more abbreviate · superlative most abbreviate

1. obsoleteAbbreviated.
2. obsoleteAbbreviated, abridged, shortened.First known use Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 17ᵗʰ century

   1 more example

   The curt form of gent as a less ceremonious substitute for the full expression of ‘gentleman,’ had once made considerable way, but its career was blighted in a court of justice. It is about twenty years ago that two young men, being brought before a London magistrate, described themselves as ‘gents.’ The magistrate said that he considered that a designation little better than ‘blackguard.’ The abbreviate form has never been able to recover that shock.

   1871, John Earle, The Philology of the English Tongue

3. biologyHaving one part relatively shorter than another or than the ordinary type.First known use First attested in the mid 19ᵗʰ century.

plural abbreviates

1. ScotlandobsoleteAn abridgment.First known use Mid 16ᵗʰ century.