Curtailer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person or device that limits, shortens, or restricts the scope, duration, or quantity of something essential
2. An individual or object that reduces or constrains a specific action, duration, or available resource
3. A person or mechanism that diminishes, cuts back, or imposes limits on the extent, length, or amount of any item or activity

Etymology: "Curtailer" is about as plain as English word-building gets: it is the verb "curtail" with the agent suffix "-er" added, so it names whatever does the curtailing. The suffix "-er" has been used this way in English for centuries, turning verbs into words for people or things that perform the action, as with "baker" or "printer." The verb it rests on carries the more striking history. "Curtail" comes from the older word "curtal," which described a horse with a docked tail, and the link to shortening is literal: a cut-off tail became the image for cutting something short. The sense of reducing or limiting extent or amount grew out of that physical image, so a curtailer is, at root, something that cuts an extent back the way a groom cut a horse's tail.

Synonyms: reducer, diminisher, limiter, constrainer, shortener

Antonyms: expander, increaser, enhancer, augmenter, broader