different between curtal vs curtail

English

Etymology

From older French courtault (modern French courtaud), from court (“short”) + -ault (pejorative suffix).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k??t?l/

Noun

curtal (plural curtals)

1. (historical) A variety of short-barrelled cannon.
2. (music) An early type of bassoon.
3. (obsolete) A horse or other animal having a docked tail.
4. (obsolete) Anything docked or cut short.

Adjective

curtal (comparative more curtal, superlative most curtal)

1. (obsolete) Of horses, having a docked tail.
2. (now rare) Physically shortened; short.
   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, page 98:

     she had loosened her hair and changed into the curtal frock of sunbright cotton that he was so fond of and had so ardently yearned to soil in the so recent past.

3. (obsolete) Abridged, curtailed.

Derived terms

• curtal friar

See also

• curtal-axe

Anagrams

• Cultra

English

Etymology

Alteration of curtal, from Old French courtault (“which has been shortened”), itself from court (“short”) (from Latin curtus) + -ault

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k???te?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /k??te?l/
• Rhymes: -e?l

Verb

curtail (third-person singular simple present curtails, present participle curtailing, simple past and past participle curtailed)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To cut short the tail of an animal

   Curtailing horses procured long horse-hair.

2. (transitive) To shorten or abridge the duration of something; to truncate.

   When the audience grew restless, the speaker curtailed her speech.

3. (transitive, figuratively) To limit or restrict, keep in check.
   • 2018, "Israeli gov't is trying to defund +972 Magazine, report says", +972 Magazine:

Synonyms

• (animal's tail): crop, dock
• (shorten): abbreviate, shorten; See also Thesaurus:shorten
• (limit): behedge, control, limit, restrain; See also Thesaurus:curb

Derived terms

• curtailer
• curtailment

Related terms

• curt
• curtal

Translations

Noun

curtail (plural curtails)

1. (architecture) A scroll termination, as of a step, etc.

Anagrams

• trucial, urtical