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Abbreviate

//əˈbɹiː.vi.eɪt// adj, noun, verb

Definitions

Adjective

1
Abbreviated. obsolete
2
Abbreviated, abridged, shortened. obsolete
"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."
3
Having one part relatively shorter than another or than the ordinary type.

Noun

1
An abridgment. Scotland, obsolete

Verb

1
To shorten by omitting parts or details. obsolete, transitive
"But it is one Thing, to Abbreuiate by Contracting, Another by Cutting off: […]"
2
shorten wordnet
3
To speak or write in a brief manner. intransitive, obsolete
4
reduce in scope while retaining essential elements wordnet
5
To make shorter; to shorten (in time); to abridge; to shorten by ending sooner than planned. transitive
"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."

Show 2 more definitions

6
To reduce a word or phrase by means of contraction or omission to a shorter recognizable form. transitive
"Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is more commonly known by its abbreviated form BSE."
7
To reduce to lower terms, as a fraction. transitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English abbreviaten, from abbreviat(e) (“abbreviated”, used as the participle of abbreviaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Latin abbreviātus, perfect passive participle of abbreviō (“to shorten”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), formed from ab- + breviō (“to shorten”), from brevis (“short”). Alternatively, a back-formation from abbreviation. Doublet of abridge.

Etymology 2

From Middle English abbreviat(e) (“abbreviated”, used as the past participle of abbreviaten); the noun is derived by subtsantivization from the adjective. See -ate (adjective forming suffix), -ate (noun forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Participial usage up until Early Modern English.

Etymology 3

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