Other forms: shortened, shortening, shortens
To shorten is to make something shorter. Shorten the trousers, shorten the odds, shorten a piece.
It covers length, time and text — shorten the meeting, shorten the article. In betting, shortening odds mean the outcome is thought more likely, which is counter-intuitive until you see that the payout is what shrinks. In sailing, to shorten sail is to reduce it in rising wind. Note shortening, which in cooking is the fat that makes pastry crumble by shortening the gluten strands.
1verbshortenTo make something shorter.
“The tailor shortened my trousers so they wouldn't drag on the ground.”
2verbbecomeTo become more likely, of betting odds.
“After their star striker was declared fit, the team's odds of winning the cup shortened.”
shorten is a making shorter.
Short plus -en, the ending that makes verbs meaning to make more so. Lengthen, sharpen and harden are built the same way.
Middle English
shortnen
English, today
shorten
From Middle English shortnen, schortenen, equivalent to short + -en. In some senses, a continuation (in altered form) of Middle English schorten (“to make short, shorten”), from Old English sċortian (“to become short”), from Proto-Germanic skurtōną (“to shorten”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA