Definition for

curtail


noun – A corruption of curtal. Compare curtail, v.

To cut short; cut off the end or a part of; dock; diminish in extent or quantity: as, to curtail words.

To deprive by excision or removal; abate by deprivation or negation: as, to curtail one of part of his allowance, or of his proper title.

noun – In architecture, a member shaped like a volute or scroll, especially in stair-building, as in the lower termination of a hand-rail or the projection of the lowest step of a flight. See curtail-step.

transitive verb – To cut off the end or tail, or any part, of; to shorten; to abridge; to diminish; to reduce.

noun – The scroll termination of any architectural member, as of a step, etc.

verb – To cut short the tail of an animal

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