Abridge

v. t.	1.	To make shorter; to shorten in duration; to lessen; to diminish; to curtail; as, to abridge labor; to abridge power or rights. [imp. & p. p. Abridged ( ); p. pr. & vb. n. Abridging.] She retired herself to Sebaste, and abridged her train from state to necessity. - Fuller.
	2.	To shorten or contract by using fewer words, yet retaining the sense; to epitomize; to condense; as, to abridge a history or dictionary.
	3.	To deprive; to cut off; - followed by of, and formerly by from; as, to abridge one of his rights.

Verb

1.

abridge - reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened" Synonyms: foreshorten, abbreviate, shorten, contract, reduce, cut

TO ABRIDGE, practice. To make shorter in words, so as to retain the sense or substance. In law it signifies particularly the making of a declaration or count shorter, by taking or severing away some of the substance from it. Brook, tit. Abridgment; Com. Dig. Abridgment; 1 Vin. Ab. 109.
     2. Abridgment of the Plaint is allowed even after verdict and before judgment (Booth on R. A.) in an cases of real actions where the writ is de lib. ten. generally, as in assize, dower; &c.; because, after the abridgment the writ is still true, it being liberum tenementum still. But it is not allowed in a proecipe quod reddat, demanding a certain number of acres; for this would falsify the writ. See 2 Saund. 44, (n.) 4 ; Bro. Abr. Tit. Abr.; 12 Levin's Ent. 76; 2 Saund. 330; Gilb. C. P. 249-253; Thel. Dig. 76, c. 28, pl. 15, lib. 8.

abstract, bereave, bleed, blot out, blue-pencil, bob, boil down, bowdlerize, brief, cancel, capsule, capsulize, censor, clip, compress, crop, cross out, curtail, cut back, cut down, cut off, cut off short, cut short, damp, dampen, decrease, deduct, deflate, delete, depreciate, depress, deprive, deprive of, digest, diminish, disentitle, divest, dock, downgrade, drain, ease one of, edit, edit out, elide, epitomize, erase, expunge, expurgate, foreshorten, kill, lessen, lighten one of, limit, lower, milk, mine, minify, minimize, mow, narrow, nip, nutshell, omit, outline, pare, poll, pollard, prune, reap, recap, recapitulate, rescind, restrict, retrench, roll back, rub out, scale down, shave, shear, simplify, sketch, sketch out, slash, snub, step down, strike, strike off, strike out, stunt, sum up, synopsize, take away from, take from, take in, tap, telescope, trim, truncate, tune down, void