Associations to the word «Curtail»

Wiktionary

CURTAIL, verb. (transitive) (obsolete) To cut short the tail of an animal
CURTAIL, verb. (transitive) To shorten or abridge the duration of something; to truncate.
CURTAIL, verb. (transitive) (figuratively) To limit or restrict, keep in check.
CURTAIL, noun. (architecture) A scroll termination, as of a step, etc.
CURTAIL DOG, noun. (obsolete) A dog with a docked tail; formerly, the dog of a person not qualified to course, which, by the forest laws, must have its tail cut short, partly as a mark, and partly from a notion that the tail is necessary to a dog in running.
CURTAIL DOG, noun. (obsolete) (by extension) A dog not fit for sporting.
CURTAIL DOGS, noun. Plural of curtail dog

Dictionary definition

CURTAIL, verb. Place restrictions on; "curtail drinking in school".
CURTAIL, verb. Terminate or abbreviate before its intended or proper end or its full extent; "My speech was cut short"; "Personal freedom is curtailed in many countries".

Wise words

The chief virtue that language can have is clearness, and nothing detracts from it so much as the use of unfamiliar words.
Hippocrates