curtail
pronunciation
How to pronounce curtail in British English:
UK [kɜːˈteɪl]
How to pronounce curtail in American English:
US [kɜːrˈteɪl]
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- Verb:
- place restrictions on
- terminate or abbreviate before its intended or proper end or its full extent
Word Origin
- curtail
- curtail: [16] The now defunct English noun curtal meant ‘horse with a docked tail’. It was borrowed in the 16th century from French courtault, a derivative of the adjective court ‘short’. Like English curt [17] this came from Latin curtus ‘cut off, shortened’, which in common with English short and shear, can be traced back to an Indo-European base *ker- or *sker- ‘cut’. In the late 16th century the noun was converted into a verb, originally meaning literally ‘dock a horse’, and the close semantic link with ‘tails’ led to its alteration to curtail.=> cuirass, curt, shear, shirt, short, skirt
- curtail (v.)
- late 15c., from Middle French courtault "made short," from court "short" (Old French cort, from Latin curtus; see curt) + -ault pejorative suffix of Germanic origin. Originally curtal; used of horses with docked tails, which probably influenced the spelling in general use; curtal is retained in poetics to describe a "shortened" stanza or poem. Related: Curtailed; curtailing.
Example
- 1. The state could not curtail such activities without inflaming the entire populace although it periodically tried .
- 2. New rules that will curtail their spending kick in from oct. 1 .
- 3. No one will curtail you to do things that make you happy .
- 4. But I don 't want it seriously to curtail my longevity .
- 5. The study focused on recreational screen time because it 's the easiest to curtail , dr. stamatakis said .