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Abbreviate   Listen
verb
Abbreviate  v. t.  (past & past part. abbreviated; pres. part. abbreviating)  
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."
2.
(Math.) To reduce to lower terms, as a fraction.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Abbreviate" Quotes from Famous Books



... measure of energy against the English as against us. We sincerely hope so because of the friendly, hearty tone of his note. "The American Government cannot admit that the proclamation of a war zone may be made to abbreviate the rights of American citizens?" Really not? We recall that at the beginning of the war England declared the whole North Sea as a war zone and the Americans did not get excited at that time. We had a right to protest bitterly at America's attitude then, but we will forget about ...
— New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 4, July, 1915 - April-September, 1915 • Various

... his literary work, its desultoriness, the time it costs his readers, that [134] slow Latinity which Johnson imitated from him, those lengthy leisurely terminations which busy posterity will abbreviate, all breathe of the long quiet of the place. Yet he is by no means indolent. Besides wide book-learning, experimental research at home, and indefatigable observation in the open air, he prosecutes the ordinary duties of a physician; contrasting himself indeed with other students, ...
— Appreciations, with an Essay on Style • Walter Horatio Pater

... husband affection and the reverse are preserved in song. Take the following as a specimen. The original runs through twenty-six verses, but I abbreviate ...
— Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before • George Turner

... touches seem to me speaking. It has occurred to me you might like them to appear in the Magazine. If you would, kindly let me know, and tell me how you would like it handled. My grandad's MS. runs to between six and seven thousand words, which I could abbreviate of anecdotes that scarce touch Sir W. Would you like this done? Would you like me to introduce the old gentleman? I had something of the sort in my mind, and could fill a few columns rather a propos. I give you the first offer ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... at the Council Board terminated after two more days' speaking. It was tiresome on the whole. Brougham is a bad presiding judge, for he will talk so much to the counsel, and being very anxious to abbreviate the business, he ought to have avoided saying pungent things, which elicited rejoinders and excited heat. The extreme gravity and patient attention of old Eldon struck me forcibly as contrasted with the air of ennui, the frequent and audible yawns, and the ...
— The Greville Memoirs - A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV, Vol. III • Charles C. F. Greville

... Providence and the attorneys have hitherto denied me the opportunity to shine. A select society at the Cheshire Cheese engaged my evenings; my afternoons, as Mr. Godall could testify, have been generally passed in this divan; and my mornings, I have taken the precaution to abbreviate by not rising before twelve. At this rate, my little patrimony was very rapidly, and I am proud to remember, most agreeably expended. Since then a gentleman, who has really nothing else to recommend him beyond the fact of being my maternal uncle, deals me the small sum of ten shillings ...
— The Dynamiter • Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny van de Grift Stevenson

... the most conspicuous parts played in the war by the Boer women was that of urging their husbands and sons to abbreviate their leaves-of-absence and return to their commandos. The mothers and wives of the burghers of the Republics gave many glorious examples of their unselfishness and deep love of country, but none ...
— With the Boer Forces • Howard C. Hillegas

... declaration of a submarine war zone could not abbreviate the rights of Americans on lawful journeys, and added: "The Government of the United States therefore very earnestly and solemnly renews the representations of its note transmitted to the Imperial German Government on ...
— Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights • Kelly Miller

... happy enough to please your fancy. By and by you discovered that I was no worse for all the quartos that have transmigrated into ideas within me,—ideas that are mysteries even to myself. If Sisty, as you call the child (plague on that unlucky anachronism! which you do well to abbreviate into a dissyllable),—if Sisty can't discover all the wisdom of Egypt in Puss in Boots, what then? Puss in Boots is harmless, and it pleases his fancy. All that wakes curiosity is wisdom, if innocent; all that pleases the fancy now, turns hereafter to love or to knowledge. And so, ...
— The Caxtons, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... agree with us, that this review of political parties (though seen through an extract which we have been compelled to abbreviate in a manner hardly permissible in quoting from an author) displays a singular originality and power of thought; although each one of them will certainly have his own class of objections and exceptions to make. We said that the impression created by the work was decidedly ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXIX. - March, 1843, Vol. LIII. • Various

... brother Greyback— Yowling And howling In nocturnal strife, Spitting and staring Cursing and swearing, Ripping and tearing, Calling thee "Sausagetail," Abbreviate thy suffix? Or did thy jealous wife Detect yer In some sly flirtation, And, after caudal lecture, Bite off thy termination? And sarve ...
— The Book of Humorous Verse • Various



Words linked to "Abbreviate" :   decrease, abridge, minify, edit out, abbreviation, bowdlerise, expand, lessen, contract, reduce, expurgate, cut, digest



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