Definition of "truncate" [trun•cate]

• To shorten by or as if by cutting off. See Synonyms at shorten. (verb-transitive)
• To shorten (a number) by dropping one or more digits after the decimal point. (verb-transitive)
• To replace (the edge of a crystal) with a plane face. (verb-transitive)
• Appearing to terminate abruptly, as a leaf of a tulip tree or a coiled gastropod shell that lacks a spire. (adjective)
• Truncated. (adjective)

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.

• "But in January 2011, HCL said, News International asked whether HCL was capable of helping "truncate" - meaning delete - "a particular database" in the e-mail system."
• "Alternatively you could always press the "truncate" button which will remove all chats from the database."
• "Young still strongly believes in the new ship, even as the Navy seeks to "truncate" the number it buys from seven ships to three and return to building Arleigh Burke DDG 51-class Aegis destroyers, which the Navy leadership claims are needed to combat new threats like ballistic missiles that the DDG 1000s weren't designed to defeat."