abridger

[ABRIDGE.] 1. Gen.: One who shortens, a shortener. self-destroyers, at least abridgers of their lives." Whitlock : Manners of the English . 2. Spec.: One who writes a compendium or abridgment of a book. to be a methodical compounder and abridger."-Lord Bacon: Inter. of Nat . , ch. vi. a-bridg-ing, pr . par . [ABRIDGE.] a-bridg-měnt (formerly abridgement), s. [ABRIDGE.] I. The act or proce of abridging. Law. 1. The act of shortening a count or declaration. 2. Abridgment of Damages: Exercise of a right by a court of reducing damages when justice seems to require it. II. The state of being abridged. 1. In a general sense. *2. Diminution, le ening. "To be master of the sea is an abridgment of a monarchy."- Bacon Works , "E ay Cie. & Mor.,' ch. xxix. 3. Deprivation of, restraint from. "It is not barely a man's abridgment in his external accommodation which makes him miserable."- South . III. Most common sense: The thing abridged. 1. An epitome of a book, a compend, an abstract, a summary of a volume or of an oral statement. "Brutus testified to the merit of Cœlius by making an abrilgment of his work."-Lewis: Credibility of Early Roman Hist . (1855), ch. ii., § 3. "This fierce abridgment Hath to it circumstantial branches, which Distinction should be rich in." Shakesp. Cymbeline, v. 5. *2. A short play, or the players. (a) The play: so called, it is thought, because in the historical drama the events of several years are abridged or presented in brief compa . "Say, what abridgment have you for this evening? What mask? what music?" Shakesp.: Mids. Night's Dream , v. L (b) The players. " Hamlet . For look, where my abridgment comes. (Enter four or five players.)"- Hamlet , ii. 2. In the same act and scene Hamlet is made to say "Good, my lord, will you see the players well bestowed? Do you hear, let them be well used; for they are the abstract and brief chronicles of the time." Abstract and brief chronicles are expre ions quite analogous to abridgment. [АвSTRACT.]