In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
SHORTENINGS
Noun
shortenings
plural of shortening
Anagrams
• right-onness
Source: Wiktionary
SHORTENING
Short"en*ing, n.
1. The act of making or becoming short or shorter.
2. (Cookery)
Definition: That which renders pastry short or friable, as butter, lard, etc.
SHORTEN
Short"en, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shortened ; p. pr. & vb. n. Shortening.] Etym: [See Short, a.]
1. To make short or shorter in measure, extent, or time; as, to shorten distance; to shorten a road; to shorten days of calamity.
2. To reduce or diminish in amount, quantity, or extent; to lessen; to abridge; to curtail; to contract; as, to shorten work, an allowance of food, etc. Here, where the subject is so fruitful, I am shortened by my chain. Dryden.
3. To make deficient (as to); to deprive; -- with of. Spoiled of his nose, and shortened of his ears. Dryden.
4. To make short or friable, as pastry, with butter, lard, pot liquor, or the like. To shorten a rope (Naut.), to take in the slack of it.
– To shorten sail (Naut.), to reduce sail by taking it in.
Short"en, v. i.
Definition: To become short or shorter; as, the day shortens in northern latitudes from June to December; a metallic rod shortens by cold.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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