1. (v. t.) To make small, or smaller; to diminish the apparent dimensions of; to lessen.

2. (v. t.) To degrade by speech or action.

abbreviate abstract bereave bleed blot out blue-pencil bob boil down bowdlerize brief cancel capsule capsulize censor clip compress condense contract crop cross out curtail cut cut back cut down cut off cut off short cut short damp dampen decrease deduct deflate delete depreciate depress deprive deprive of digest diminish disentitle divest dock downgrade drain ease one of edit edit out elide epitomize erase expunge expurgate foreshorten kill lessen lighten one of limit lower milk mine minify minimize mow narrow nip nutshell omit outline pare poll pollard prune reap recap recapitulate reduce rescind restrict retrench roll back rub out scale down shave shear shorten simplify sketch sketch out slash snub step down strike strike off strike out stunt sum up summarize synopsize take away from take from take in tap telescope trim truncate tune down void