CURTAIL

restrict, curtail, curb, cut back

(verb) place restrictions on; “curtail drinking in school”

clip, curtail, cut short

(verb) terminate or abbreviate before its intended or proper end or its full extent; “My speech was cut short”; “Personal freedom is curtailed in many countries”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

curtail (third-person singular simple present curtails, present participle curtailing, simple past and past participle curtailed)

(transitive, obsolete) To cut short the tail of an animal

(transitive) To shorten or abridge the duration of something; to truncate.

(transitive, figuratively) To limit or restrict, keep in check.

Synonyms

• (animal's tail): crop, dock

• (shorten): abbreviate, shorten; See also shorten

• (limit): behedge, control, limit, restrain; See also curb

Noun

curtail (plural curtails)

(architecture) A scroll termination, as of a step, etc.

Anagrams

• trucial, urtical

Source: Wiktionary

Cur*tail" (kr-tl"), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Curtailed (-tld"); p.pr. & vb.n. Curtailing.] Etym: [See Curtal.]

Definition: To cut off the end or tail, or any part, of; to shorten; to abridge; to diminish; to reduce. I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion. Shak. Our incomes have been curtailed; his salary has been doubled. Macualay.

Cur"tail (kr"tl), n.

Definition: The scroll termination of any architectural member, as of a step, etc.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition