Other forms: abridged, abridging, abridges
To abridge is to shorten a work while keeping its sense. An abridged edition, abridge the text, abridge a right.
An abridged book cuts material out and does not rewrite what is left, which is the difference from an adaptation. In law, to abridge a right is to cut it down, and the American constitution uses the word in exactly that sense.
1verbabridgeTo shorten a work while keeping its sense.
“The publisher decided to abridge the long novel for younger readers.”
abridge is a shortening.
Old French abregier comes from Latin abbreviare, to shorten, from brevis, short. Abbreviate is its doublet.
Latin
abbrevio — make brief
Old French
abregier
Middle English
abreggen
English, today
abridge
Built from
From Middle English abreggen, abregge, abrigge (“curtail, lessen”), from Old French abregier, abreger, from Latin abbrevio (“make brief”). a doublet of abbreviate.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA