overshorten
English
WOTD – 8 May 2010
Etymology
over- + shorten
Pronunciation
- (UK) enPR: ō'vər.shôrʹtən, IPA(key): /ˌəʊ.vəˈʃɔː.tən/
- (US) enPR: ō'vər.shôrʹtən, IPA(key): /ˌoʊ.vɚˈʃɔɹ.tən/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
overshorten (third-person singular simple present overshortens, present participle overshortening, simple past and past participle overshortened)
- (transitive) To shorten too much; make excessively or inappropriately short.
- 1936, Harold Vincent Marrot (editor), The Life and Letters of John Galsworthy, page 696 (second, revised edition; Heinemann)
- This plant has only a certain capacity for daylight, and to overshorten the nights would injure it.
- 1936, Harold Vincent Marrot (editor), The Life and Letters of John Galsworthy, page 696 (second, revised edition; Heinemann)
Translations
to shorten too much
|