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)

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• Audio (AU)

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Verb

overshorten (third-person singular simple present overshortens, present participle overshortening, simple past and past participle overshortened)

1. (transitive) To shorten too much; make excessively or inappropriately short.
   • 1936, Harold Vincent Marrot, editor, The Life and Letters of John Galsworthy‎^[1], 2nd revised edition, Heinemann, page 696:

     This plant has only a certain capacity for daylight, and to overshorten the nights would injure it.

Translations

to shorten too much

• Finnish: lyhentää liikaa