Shortening - Dictionary Definition and Overview

Shortening :  (noun)
1: fat such as butter or lard used in baked goods
2: act of decreasing in length; "the dress needs shortening"

Based on WordNet 2.0

Shorten \Short"en\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shortened ?; p. pr. & vb. n. Shortening.] [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.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Shortening : \Short"en*ing\, n. 1. The act of making or becoming short or shorter.

2. (Cookery) That which renders pastry short or friable, as butter, lard, etc.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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