Abrigge

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To make something shorter by condensing it into fewer words ; to take away or limit someone's rights, privileges or possessions
2. To cut a text or account down to a briefer form ; to reduce or restrict another person's liberties or means
3. To shorten a written work or speech by compression ; to strip someone of something they had or to curb their freedom

Etymology: Before it meant to condense a book, this verb meant to cut something short in the most literal sense, and it could also mean to deprive someone of something. Medieval writers used it of rights and liberties as readily as of texts, so to abridge a person's freedom was to shorten it, to cut it off. The verb reached Middle English from Old French "abregier", which came from the Latin "abbreviare", meaning to shorten. That Latin verb is built from "ad-", a prefix of direction, and "brevis", meaning short, the same root behind "brief". English also took the Latin word directly, producing "abbreviate", so the two verbs are doublets: one arrived through French, the other straight from Latin, and both trace back to the same idea of shortness.