Definition of "curtail" []

• To cut short or reduce. See Synonyms at shorten. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Booming M&A activity has helped to drive Australia's stock market to a record, but these changes may in the short term curtail that activity."
• "A poor African, behind the pulpit, who perhaps had seen pictures of the devil with a long tail and hoofs, misapprehended the meaning of the word curtail, and responded, "Amen! may it be cut right, smack, smooth, short off.""
• "Freedom is not absolute, of course, but the worst atrocities in history have been carried out when authorities decided to "curtail" activities "in the interest of the common good.""