1. To create
short or shorter in measure, extent, or time; as, to
shorten distance; to
shorten a road; to
shorten days of calamity.
2. To
reduce or
diminish in amount, quantity, or extent; to lessen; to abridge; to curtail; to contract; as, to
shorten work, an
allowance of food, etc. "Here, where the subject is so fruitful, I am shortened by my chain." (Dryden)
3. To create
deficient (as to); to deprive; with of. "Spoiled of
his nose, and shortened of
his ears." (Dryden)
4. To create
short or friable, as pastry, with butter, lard, pot liquor, or the like. To
shorten a rope, to
reduce sail by assume it in.
Origin: See Short.
Source: Websters Vocabulary