1make or become shorter: [with object]:he shortened his stridepatients whose waiting time had been shortened [no object]:as skirts shortened, so heels rosearound mid September, days shorten and temperatures dip
(with reference to gambling odds) make or become shorter; decrease: [with object]:Ladbrokes shortened Nashwan’s odds from 2-1 to 7-4 [no object]:the odds had shortened to 14-1
[with object] Prosody & Phonetics make (a vowel or syllable) short:the preceding vowels are shortened
2 [with object] Sailing reduce the amount of (sail spread):before sail could be shortened she went on to her beam ends
