 4 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
abridge
verb: reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The
manuscript must be shortened" [syn: {foreshorten}, {abbreviate},
{shorten}, {cut}, {contract}, {reduce}] [ant: {elaborate}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Abridge \A*bridge"\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Abridged}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Abridging}.] [OE. abregen, OF. abregier, F.
abr['e]ger, fr. L. abbreviare; ad + brevis short. See {Brief}
and cf. {Abbreviate}.]
1. To make shorter; to shorten in duration; to lessen; to
diminish; to curtail; as, to abridge labor; to abridge
power or rights. ''The bridegroom . . . abridged his
visit.'' --Smollett.
She retired herself to Sebaste, and abridged her
train from state to necessity. --Fuller.
2. To shorten or contract by using fewer words, yet retaining
the sense; to epitomize; to condense; as, to abridge a
history or dictionary.
3. To deprive; to cut off; -- followed by of, and formerly by
from; as, to abridge one of his rights.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
107 Moby Thesaurus words for "abridge":
abbreviate, abstract, bereave, bleed, blot out, blue-pencil, bob,
boil down, bowdlerize, brief, cancel, capsule, capsulize, censor,
clip, compress, condense, contract, crop, cross out, curtail, cut,
cut back, cut down, cut off, cut off short, cut short, damp,
dampen, decrease, deduct, deflate, delete, depreciate, depress,
deprive, deprive of, digest, diminish, disentitle, divest, dock,
downgrade, drain, ease one of, edit, edit out, elide, epitomize,
erase, expunge, expurgate, foreshorten, kill, lessen,
lighten one of, limit, lower, milk, mine, minify, minimize, mow,
narrow, nip, nutshell, omit, outline, pare, poll, pollard, prune,
reap, recap, recapitulate, reduce, rescind, restrict, retrench,
roll back, rub out, scale down, shave, shear, shorten, simplify,
sketch, sketch out, slash, snub, step down, strike, strike off,
strike out, stunt, sum up, summarize, synopsize, take away from,
take from, take in, tap, telescope, trim, truncate, tune down,
void
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
ABRIDGE, v.t. To shorten.
When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for
people to abridge their king, a decent respect for the opinions of
mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel
them to the separation.
Oliver Cromwell
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