The action of abridging or shortening something; an instance of this.

The process of shortening; summarizing.

The action or practice of shortening something (esp. a word, text, etc.); abbreviation; abridgement.

spec. The action or process of making a shortened version or abstract of a longer text; statement in abridged form; an instance of this.

The action of contract, v. (in various senses).

The action of curtail, v.; shortening, abridging.

Abbreviation (of a writing, etc.), abridgement; condensation, conciseness. Obsolete or archaic.

figurative. The compression of thought or meaning into few words; reduction (of a literary work, etc.) within small or moderate compass by due…

The action of curtailing, shortening, diminishing; abridgement.

The action of epitomizing.

That gives or constitutes a summary of something; that expresses something concisely.

The action of ‘cutting’ or excising.

With down: the process of condensing or abridging literary matter; concrete a condensation or epitome. (See boil, v. 8.)

figurative. The action or fact of abridging, condensing, or summarizing a text, a body of knowledge, etc., in order to make it easier to…