A Dictionary of the English Language/abbreviate

by Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)

To Abbre′viate, v. a. [Lat. abbreviare.]

1.

To shorten by contraction of parts without loss of the main substance; to abridge.

It is one thing to abbreviate by contracting, another by cutting off.Bacon, Essay 26.

The only invention of late years, which hath contributed towards politeness in discourse, is that of abbreviating or reducing words of many syllables into one, by lopping off the rest.Swift.

1.

To shorten, to cut short.

Set the strength of their days before the flood; which were abbreviated after, and contracted into hundreds and threescores.Brown's Vulgar Errors, b. vi. c. 6..