abridgment

Noun

1. The act of abridging; reduction or deprivation
   • an abridgment of pleasures or of expenses

   Synonyms: diminution lessening shortening

2. The state of being abridged or lessened.
3. An epitome or compend, as of a book; a shortened or abridged form; an abbreviation.
   • The article which embodied my researches having proved somewhat too long for its purpose, an abridgment of it only was inserted in the Encyclopædia. - 1910, James George Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, volume 1, page viii:
   • When the goal is simply to be as faithful as possible to the material—as if a movie were a marriage, and a rights contract the vow—the best result is a skillful abridgment, one that hits all the important marks without...
4. That which abridges or cuts short; hence, an entertainment that makes the time pass quickly
   • What abridgment have you for this evening? What masque? what music? - 1605, Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream, V-i:
5. Any of various brief statements of case law made before modern reporting of legal cases.
6. The leaving out of certain portions of a plaintiff's demand, the writ still holding good for the remainder.