curtail, curtall

t. [O. Fr. courtault courtaut curtail ( Cotgrave ); Ital. cortaldo =a curtail; a horse without tail; cortare to shorten, to curtail; corta = short, brief, curtailed ( Florio ); from O. Fr. court (Ital. corta )=short; with suff. -ault, -alt =Ital. aldo (Low Lat. -aldus ); from Lat. curt us=docked. ( Skeat.,, *I. Lit. To cut the end or tail off. II. Figuratively : 1. To shorten, to dock, to cut off, to deprive. "I that am curtail'd of all fair proportion, Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time Into this breathing world." Shakesp.: Richard III., 1. 1. 1236 cür-tail-ing, pr. par., a. & s. [CURTAIL. v.] A. & B. As pr . par. & particip. adj.: (See the verb.) C. As subst.: The act of abridging, shortening, le ening, or reducing; curtailment, abridgment. "Scribblers send us over their trash in prose and verse, with abominable cur tailings , and quaint modernisms." Swift .