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Abridge
Definitions
- 1 A village in Essex, England.
- 1 To deprive; to cut off. archaic, transitive
- 2 lessen, diminish, or curtail wordnet
- 3 To debar from. archaic, rare, transitive
- 4 reduce in scope while retaining essential elements wordnet
- 5 To make shorter; to shorten in duration or extent. transitive
"She retired her self to Sebaste, and abridged her train from State to necessity."
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- 6 To shorten or contract by using fewer words, yet retaining the sense; to epitomize; to condense. transitive
"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."
- 7 Cut short; truncate. transitive
- 8 To curtail. transitive
"He had his rights abridged by the crooked sheriff."
Etymology
From Middle English abreggen, abregge, abrigge (“curtail, lessen”), from Old French abregier, abreger, from Late Latin abbreviō, abbreviāre (“make brief”). Doublet of abbreviate.
From Middle English Affebrigg, from Old English, from Æffa (personal name) + brycg (“bridge”). For the first element see Effingham.
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