shorten

Etymology

From Middle English shortnen, schortenen, equivalent to short + -en (verbal suffix). In some senses, a continuation (in altered form) of Middle English schorten (“to make short, shorten”), from Old English sċortian (“to become short”), from Proto-Germanic *skurtōną (“to shorten”).

verb

1. (transitive) To make shorter; to abbreviate.
2. (intransitive) To become shorter.
3. (transitive) To make deficient (as to); to deprive (of).
4. (transitive) To make short or friable, as pastry, with butter, lard, etc.
5. (transitive) To reduce or diminish in amount, quantity, or extent; to lessen.
   to shorten an allowance of food
   Here, where the subject is so fruitful, I am shortened by my chain. 1699, John Dryden, Dedication to His Grace the Duke of Ormond
   My grandfather, as I said before, was connected with a gang of shorters, and sometimes shortened money, […] 1858, George Borrow, The Romany Rye, volume 2, page 128
6. (baking, of pastries, transitive) To make crumbly.
   Corn flour makes delicious pie crust, and needs less lard to shorten it. 1894, Helen M. Laughlin, The Journal of Agriculture Cook Book, Journal of Agriculture Co., page 212
7. (nautical, transitive) To take in the slack of (a rope).
8. (nautical, transitive) To reduce (sail) by taking it in.