| 释义 |
▪ I. abridge, v.|əˈbrɪdʒ|
Forms: 4 abrege, 4–5 abregge, abrigge, 4–6 abrydge, 6 abbredge, 6– abridge.
[a. OFr. abregie-r, abrege-r (Pr. abrevjar):—L. abbreviā-re, f. ab off or ? ad to + breviā-re to shorten, f. brevis short.]
Always trans.
1. To shorten; to make shorter, to cut short in its duration, to lessen the duration of. Originally of time, or things occupying time.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 4571 Þan sal God abrege his [Anticrist's] days Als Mathew in þe Godspel says. Ibid. 4575 ‘Bote his days war abreged,’ says he, ‘Fone men fra þan sal save be.’ Bot his tyme God abrege sal þan. c1386Chaucer Merch. T. 370 (E. 1614) He wolde abregge hir labour alle and some [MS. Lansd. a-brigge]. c1440Myrc Instr. to P.P. 1629 Ȝef he be sory for hys synne..A-bregge hys penaunce þen by myche. 1534More Comforte agst. Tribul. iii. Wks. 1557, 1213/2 He shall for the loue of hys electes..abbredge those daies. 1590Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 245 Besides, thy staying will abridge thy life. 1751Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) IV. lxxxvi. 17 The bridegroom..abridged his visit. 1834H. Martineau Moral i. 17 To make a greater quantity with the same capital; in other words, to abridge the labour.
2. a. To make shorter in words, whilst retaining the sense and substance; to condense, epitomize.
1393Wills & Inv. North. Count. IV. 186 And in kase be that this wytword will noght perfurnysche, I will it be abrydged. 1494Fabyan v. cxv. 89 I passe ouer in abrydgynge and shortynge somedeale of this Storye. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 5 Efnard (is reported) to haue abridged the French Psalter. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 474 James had ordered Sancroft to abridge the ritual. 1863Max Müller Chips (1880) II. xxvi. 294 This work was abridged in the first half of the ninth century.
b. To produce by shortening from or abridging (a larger work); to condense from.
1782Priestley Corr. Christ. I. Pref. 19 Some things will be found..abridged from other works. 1810(title) A vocabulary Persian, Arabic and English abridged from the quarto edition of Richardson's dictionary as edited by Charles Wilkins. 1889in Watson & Burbury Math. Theory Electricity & Magnetism II. (Final advt. section) 1 An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, abridged from the above. Small 4to. 1971Nature 9 July 81/1 The following account is abridged from a thesis by George L. Small, professor of geography at the City University of New York.
3. Law. ‘To make a declaration or count shorter, by subtracting or severing some of the substance from it.’ Blount 1691, Tomlins 1809.
4. To cut off, cut short; to reduce to a small size. Now rare of things material.
c1420Lydgate Minor Poems (1840) 5 Alle myscheffes from him to abrigge. 1605Play of Stucley (1878) 186 But 'tis not thou, nor any power but his..That can abridge my purpose. 1639Fuller Holy War (1840) ii. xxxi. 91 She retired herself to Sebaste, and abridged her train from state to necessity. 1748Smollett Rod. Rand. (1804) xxv. 172 Spoons..two of which were curtailed in the handles, and the other abridged in the lip. 1822Scott Nigel vi. Sir Mungo..laid on his hilt his hand, or rather his claw, (for Sir Rullion's broadsword had abridged it into that form).
5. To curtail, to lessen, to diminish (rights, privileges, advantages, or authority).
1393Gower Conf. III. 152 Largesse it is, whose privilege There may non avarice abrege. 1534More On Passion Wks. 1557, 1356/2 His former feare shall no whit abridge his rewarde. 1651Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxvi. 138 The naturall Liberty of man may by the Civill Law be abridged. 1702Pope Jan. and May 489 He watch'd her night and day, Abridg'd her pleasures, and confin'd her sway. 1761Hume Hist. Eng. I. viii. 178 A tribunal whose authority he had himself attempted to abridge. 1853F. W. Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. xvi. 207 The Apostle Paul counsels these men to abridge their Christian liberty.
6. With a person:—Const. of, rarely from, in. To stint, to curtail in; to deprive of; to debar from.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 11950 Whan of synne þou art abreggede. 1523Fitzherbert Surveying (1539) iv. 8 It were agayne reason to abrydge a man of his owne righte. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. i. i. 126 Nor do I now make mone to be abridg'd From such a noble rate. 1692South 12 Serm. (1697) I. 33 Much tied and abridged in his freedom. 1768Blackstone Comm. I. 154 The legislative therefore cannot abridge the executive power of any rights which it now has by law, without it's own consent. 1839H. Rogers Essays II. iii. 147 The language, abridged of its native power, needed this transfusion of fresh blood.
▪ II. † aˈbridge, n. Obs. rare—1.
[f. the vb.]
A condensed form, an epitome, a compendium.
1634T. Herbert Travaile 2 Great Brittaine..contains the summe and abridge of all sorts of excellencies. |