Lexic.us

Definition of Curtail

1. Verb. Place restrictions on. "Curtail drinking in school"

2. Verb. Terminate or abbreviate before its intended or proper end or its full extent. "Personal freedom is curtailed in many countries"

Definition of Curtail

1. v. t. To cut off the end or tail, or any part, of; to shorten; to abridge; to diminish; to reduce.

2. n. The scroll termination of any architectural member, as of a step, etc.

Definition of Curtail

1. Verb. (obsolete) To cut short the tail of an animal ¹

2. Verb. To shorten or abridge the duration of something; to truncate. ¹

3. Verb. (figuratively) To limit or restrict, keep in check. ¹

4. Noun. (architecture) A scroll termination, as of a step, etc. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Curtail

1. to cut short [v -ED, -ING, -S]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Curtail

cursores cursorial cursorily cursoriness cursorinesses cursoring cursorless cursors cursory cursour

cursours curst curstfully cursus curt curtail (current term) curtailed curtailer curtailers curtailing

curtailment curtailments curtails curtain curtain-call curtain-raise curtain-twitcher curtain-twitchers curtain call curtain calls

Literary usage of Curtail

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Robin Hood: A Collection of All the Ancient Poems, Songs, and Ballads, Now by Joseph Ritson, Joseph Frank, Thomas Bewick (1832)
"The curtail fryer,'' Dr. Stukeley says, " is cordelier, from the cord or rope ... Our fryer, however, is undoubtedly so called from his " curtail dogs," or ..."

2. Hearings Before the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce of the by United States Congress. House. Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, United States 57th Congress, 1st session, 1901-1902. House. [from old catalog] (1902)
"That is always dependent upon the question of whether it does curtail constitutional safeguards. Mr. COOMBS. Now, this is only a change of method of ..."

3. An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by Walter William Skeat (1893)
"curtail is a corruption of an older curtail, and was orig. accented on ... I. Ia, according to the first folio ; altered to curtail in later editions. ..."

4. History of Mexico by Hubert Howe Bancroft, William Nemos, Thomas Savage, Joseph Joshua Peatfield (1888)
"STATE—DEMORALIZATION OF THE CLERGY—THEIR INFLUENCE WANING—MEASURES TO curtail THEIR POWER—INTRIGUES —THE CLERGY AND THE ..."

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