Meaning

verb make shorter than originally intended; reduce or retrench in length or duration

verb reduce in scope while retaining essential elements

verb make short or shorter

originFrom Middle English shortnen, schortenen, equivalent to short + -en (verbal suffix). In some senses, a continuation (in altered form) of Middle English schorten (“to make short, shorten”), from Old English sċortian (“to become short”), from Proto-Germanic *skurtōną (“to shorten”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0