vbl. sb. [f. ABRIDGE v. + -ING1.] The act or process of shortening the duration of any thing, or lessening it; or of making a short compendium or abstract of a larger work.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pars. T., 168. Yit avaylen thay to abrigging of the peyne of helle.
1475. Boke of Noblesse, 31. The said chieftein must pay his men … bethout any defalking [or] abbregging of here wagis.
1611. Bible, 2 Macc. ii. 26. This paineful labour of abridging … was not easie, but a matter of sweat.
1676. Clarendon, Surv. Leviathan, 297. The abridging his universal jurisdiction.
