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What is "abbreviate"

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abbreviate
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
abbreviate
verb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Is it correct to abbreviate 'Avenue', 'Street' and so on when writing an address on an envelope?
▪ The word "kilogram' is usually abbreviated to "kg'.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Also, in writing of events the writer is certain to have to abbreviate any descriptions very sharply.
▪ Can you relate this use of questions to the fact that you is deleted from abbreviated questions?
▪ However, the tag cases are only one part of the general deletion processes that affect subject and auxiliary in abbreviated style.
▪ Tag-Controlled Deletion is a rule of the abbreviated style in informal language.
▪ Television, it should be remembered, can conserve and celebrate just as it can abbreviate and denature.
▪ The most moderate view is that Celsus' discussion has been abbreviated.
▪ The solution is to abbreviate, contract and condense.
▪ Unless he can marry, he is often destined to a troubled and abbreviated life.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Abbreviate

Abbreviate \Ab*bre"vi*ate\, a. [L. abbreviatus, p. p.]

  1. Abbreviated; abridged; shortened. [R.] ``The abbreviate form.''
    --Earle.

  2. (Biol.) Having one part relatively shorter than another or than the ordinary type.

Abbreviate

Abbreviate \Ab*bre"vi*ate\, n. An abridgment. [Obs.]
--Elyot.

Abbreviate

Abbreviate \Ab*bre"vi*ate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Abbreviated; p. pr. & vb. n. Abbreviating.] [L. abbreviatus, p. p. of abbreviare; ad + breviare to shorten, fr. brevis short. See Abridge.]

  1. To make briefer; to shorten; to abridge; to reduce by contraction or omission, especially of words written or spoken.

    It is one thing to abbreviate by contracting, another by cutting off.
    --Bacon.

  2. (Math.) To reduce to lower terms, as a fraction.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
abbreviate

mid-15c., from Latin abbreviatus, past participle of abbreviare "to shorten" (see abbreviation). Also sometimes 15c. abbrevy, from Middle French abrevier (14c.), from Latin abbreviare. Related: Abbreviated; abbreviating.

Wiktionary
abbreviate

Etymology 1 vb. 1 (context obsolete transitive English) To shorten by omitting parts or details. (Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 17th century.)(R:SOED5: page=3) 2 (context obsolete intransitive English) To speak or write in a brief manner. (Attested from the late 16th century until the early 17th century.) 3 (context transitive English) To make shorter; to shorten; to abridge; to shorten by ending sooner than planned. (First attested from around (1350 to 1470).) 4 (context transitive English) To reduce a word or phrase by means of contraction or omission to a shorter recognizable form. (First attested in the late 16th century.) 5 (context transitive mathematics English) To reduce to lower terms, as a fraction. Etymology 2

  1. 1 (context obsolete English) Abbreviated; abridged; shortened. (Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 17th century) 2 (context biology English) Having one part relatively shorter than another or than the ordinary type. (First attested in the mid 19th century.) n. (context obsolete English) An abridgment. (Mid 16th century.)

Related phrases:
WordNet
abbreviate

  1. v: shorten; "Abbreviate `New York' and write `NY'"

  2. reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened" [syn: abridge, foreshorten, shorten, cut, contract, reduce] [ant: elaborate]

Usage examples of "abbreviate".

XT-Operations agreed to use his good offices to convince the people at the auberge to let Richard take abbreviated tests right there at the starport, then proceed directly to Go.

Miri was formally introduced to Edger, Handler, Selector, and Sheather, each by his abbreviated, visa name.

Two modes of abbreviating a Polysyllogism, are usually discussed, the Epicheirema and the Sorites.

Alpha hooked her handheld on her belt, and the two formas stood together, staring at the shoe, neither speaking, though they made abbreviated gestures as if they were conversing.

Without too much trouble, I could have fleshed it out into a complete linear narrative, but I liked the abbreviated format better: the last, hurried testament of a tragic heroine, doomed to die on Muta or be consumed by parasitic spores.

When he looked at that portion of the mural, Dotson touched the side of his flattened, chinless muzzle in an abbreviated version of the Rac greeting gesture.

In accordance with this abbreviated development, the caudal membranous crest does not exist, and the branchial aperture closes as soon as the external gills disappear.

The morphology database includes abbreviated music and mathematics tables.

Should have bandaged them, he muttered to himself, and swung off when the mosso came to its abbreviated stop.

Epicheirema, then, is an abbreviated chain of reasoning, or Polysyllogism, comprising an Episyllogism with one or two enthymematic Prosyllogisms.

It was no fist at all, more like a meat ball, two little meat balls, two rosy pompons swinging from abbreviated arms.

Before Corunna stood Lieutenant Strope, though Marvin was able to see nothing of him save a pair of thin shanks protruding from abbreviated duck trousers.

There being no sidings at Lake Louise, the abbreviated train that had brought us there had been returned to Banff for the two mountain days, with George Burley going with it, in charge.

Lake Louise, the abbreviated train that had brought us there had been returned to Banff for the two mountain days, with George Burley going with it, in charge.

Alpha hooked her handheld on her belt, and the two formas stood together, staring at the shoe, neither speaking, though they made abbreviated gestures as if they were conversing.