Shorten

(shōrt’n), v. t. [imp. & p. p. SHORTENED; p. pr. & vb. n. SHORTENING.] [See SHORT, a.]

1. To make short 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; to restrain; as, to shorten the hair, work, an allowance of food, or the like.

Here, where the subject is so fruitful, I am shortened by my chain. Dryden. 3. To make deficient in respect to; to deprive; — with of. Spoiled of his nose, and shortened of his ears. Dryden. 4. To make short or friable, as pastry, with butter or lard. To shorten a rope (Naut.), to take in the slack of it.—To shorten sail, to reduce sail by taking it in. Totten.