make shorter than originally intended; reduce or retrench in length or duration;
\\\"He shortened his trip due to illness\\\"
reduce in scope while retaining essential elements;
\\\"The manuscript must be shortened\\\"
make short or shorter;
\\\"shorten the skirt\\\"
\\\"shorten the rope by a few inches\\\"
become short or shorter;
\\\"In winter, the days shorten\\\"
edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate;
\\\"bowdlerize a novel\\\"
造句
用作動詞(v.)
Ive asked him to shorten my trousers. 我讓他把我的褲子弄短點。
All you need to do is to shorten the sleeves of the dress instead of picking the whole thing apart. 你要做的只是將袖子弄短，而不是將整件衣服拆開。
The days are beginning to shorten. 白天開始變短了。
The vehicles that press down on a bridge\\\'s roadway compress the top half of the road, causing it to shorten like a compressed spring. 那些從橋上過壓緊橋面的車輛會導致路面上半部分的壓縮，使其想被壓縮的彈簧一樣變短。
常用短語
用作動詞(v.)
shorten to (v.+prep.)
(使)壓縮到… (cause sth to) become shorter to shorten sth to sth