Crossword clues for shorten
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Shorten \Short"en\, v. i. To become short or shorter; as, the day shortens in northern latitudes from June to December; a metallic rod shortens by cold.
Shorten \Short"en\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shortened ?; p. pr. & vb. n. Shortening.] [See Short, a.]
To make short or shorter in measure, extent, or time; as, to shorten distance; to shorten a road; to shorten days of calamity.
-
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. -
To make deficient (as to); to deprive; -- with of.
Spoiled of his nose, and shortened of his ears.
--Dryden. -
To make short or friable, as pastry, with butter, lard, pot liquor, or the like.
To shorten a rope (Naut.), to take in the slack of it.
To shorten sail (Naut.), to reduce sail by taking it in.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1510s, "make shorter;" 1560s, "grow shorter," from short (adj.) + -en (1); the earlier form of the verb was simply short, from Old English sceortian "to grow short, become short; run short, fail," gescyrtan "to make short."
Wiktionary
vb. 1 (context transitive English) To make shorter; to abbreviate. 2 (context intransitive English) To become shorter. 3 (context transitive English) To make deficient (as to); to deprive (of). 4 (context transitive English) To make short or friable, as pastry, with butter, lard, etc. 5 (context transitive English) To reduce or diminish in amount, quantity, or extent; to lessen. 6 (context nautical transitive English) To take in the slack of (a rope). 7 (context nautical transitive English) To reduce (sail) by taking it in.
WordNet
v. make shorter than originally intended; reduce or retrench in length or duration; "He shortened his trip due to illness" [ant: lengthen]
reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened" [syn: abridge, foreshorten, abbreviate, cut, contract, reduce] [ant: elaborate]
make short or shorter; "shorten the skirt"; "shorten the rope by a few inches"
become short or shorter; "In winter, the days shorten" [ant: lengthen]
edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate; "bowdlerize a novel" [syn: bowdlerize, bowdlerise, expurgate, castrate]
Wikipedia
Shorten may refer to:
- Shorten (file format), for compressing audio data
- Shorten (surname), an English surname
Shorten (SHN) is a file format used for compressing audio data. It is a form of data compression of files and is used to losslessly compress CD-quality audio files (44.1 kHz 16- bit stereo PCM). Shorten is no longer developed and other lossless audio codecs such as FLAC, Monkey's Audio (APE), TTA, and WavPack (WV) have become more popular. However, Shorten is still in use by some people because there are legally traded concert recordings in circulation that are encoded as Shorten files. Shorten files use the .shn file extension.
Usage examples of "shorten".
Again, keeping the amplitude constant, the intensity of stimulus is increased by shortening the wire.
Happily, there are tables and good approximations which can be used to shorten these calculations.
The preservative in part replaces the alcohol and the hop extract, and shortens the brewing time.
This shortened form of extraterritoriality was generally in use at the time and has been adopted here.
If the bricks were turned so as to show their short sides or ends in front instead of their long ones, certainly a compact wall of a whole brick thick, instead of half a brick, would be produced, and while the thickness of the wall would be double, the longitudinal bond would be shortened by one-half: a wall of any great thickness built in this manner would necessarily be composed of so many independent one-brick walls.
Every day Malemute Kid led the girl out on long walks devoted to the correction of her carriage and the shortening of her stride.
The Horsekin riders were yelling and grabbing manes and necks, shortening up on their reins, clutching their saddle peaks anything to keep from being thrown.
He moreover failed to take into account the numberless young lives that have been shortened by matutinal habits.
Franz shortened the lead, wrapping it around his meaty fist, and lifted his hips, pressing himself deep into her.
When impregnation occurs immediately before the appearance of the menses, their duration is generally shortened, but not sufficiently to establish the suspicion that conception has taken place.
I heard, I desired to heare some newes, and said, I pray you masters make me partaker of your talk, that am not so curious as desirous to know all your communication : so shall we shorten our journey, and easily passe this high hill before us, by merry and pleasant talke.
When the nature of the impurities will allow it, this process may be shortened to first filtering off the gangue, then precipitating with sulphuretted hydrogen and washing the precipitate on the filter first with water and then with ammonium sulphide.
He lifted the badge of princehood from his forehead, shortened the fillet from which it hung, so that it would fit her small head and set it on her brow.
The favourite weapon of the peasantry, on account of its low price and other good qualities, is the old Enfield rifle bought out of the Government stores, shortened and rebored to get rid of the rifling.
The river crossing had cost them energy he hoped to recoup by shortening their journey.