curtail

• vt. 缩减；剪短；剥夺…特权等

来自PIE*sker, 剪，切，词源同shear, short. -ault, 贬义后缀，词源同valiant, 勇敢的，顽固的。比较-ard, 贬义后缀，来自hard, 见bastard. 原指剪短尾巴的马，拼写受tail影响俗化。

1. place restrictions on;

"curtail drinking in school"

2. 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"

curtail

curtail: [16] The now defunct English noun curtal meant ‘horse with a docked tail’. It was borrowed in the 16th century from French courtault, a derivative of the adjective court ‘short’. Like English curt [17] this came from Latin curtus ‘cut off, shortened’, which in common with English short and shear, can be traced back to an Indo-European base *ker- or *sker- ‘cut’. In the late 16th century the noun was converted into a verb, originally meaning literally ‘dock a horse’, and the close semantic link with ‘tails’ led to its alteration to curtail.
=> cuirass, curt, shear, shirt, short, skirt

curtail (v.)

late 15c., from Middle French courtault "made short," from court "short" (Old French cort, from Latin curtus; see curt) + -ault pejorative suffix of Germanic origin. Originally curtal; used of horses with docked tails, which probably influenced the spelling in general use; curtal is retained in poetics to describe a "shortened" stanza or poem. Related: Curtailed; curtailing.

Spending on books has been severely curtailed.

购书开支已被大大削减。

牛津词典

The lecture was curtailed by the fire alarm going off.

那次讲座被突然鸣响的火警中断了。

牛津词典

[不可数名词]the curtailment of civil liberties

对公民自由的限制

牛津词典

NATO plans to curtail the number of troops being sent to the region...

北约计划缩减派往该地区的士兵数量。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

I told Louie that old age would curtail her activities in time...

我告诉路易，一上年纪她的活动量就会减少。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

The President had to curtail his visit.

总统不得不缩短他的访问日期.

期刊摘选

In all cases we'll curtail baggage handling.

在任何情况之下,我们要简化行李的发送.

辞典例句

The city also plans to ban smoking in public places and curtail pollution during the event.

上海还计划在公共场所禁烟,禁止汽车鸣喇叭,并会在世博会期间削减污染.

期刊摘选

The minister had to curtail his visit.

部长不得不缩短访问日期.

期刊摘选

By the same token, reduced military budgets would force the government to curtail its foreign involvement.

根据同样理由, 削减军事预算就可以迫使政府减少其在国外的卷入.

辞典例句

But the aim of the government and its technocrats is to curtail and destroy those movements.

但政府的目的和它的技术官僚,是遏制和消灭那些动作.

期刊摘选

It threatens to curtail a modest recovery in consumer spending on items like apparel and electronics.

高油价将威胁到消费者在服饰与电子产品消费上的适度复苏.

期刊摘选

It is necessary to curtail or alter normally coexisting stimuli.

必需消除或改变正常时并存的刺激.

辞典例句

We must try to curtail our spending.

我们必须尽力缩减开支.

期刊摘选

He was determined to keep to his plan until circumstances compelled him to curtail it.

他决定坚持他的计划,除非环境迫使他放弃.

期刊摘选

To curtail worsening of environment within the ecosystem function reserves , and make progress in good way.

实现生态功能保护区社会经济走可持续发展道路.

期刊摘选

Rules also curtail activity in these products, and volume has remained small since last month's debut.

这些产品的交易活动也受到规则的限制, 自上个月开始以来,其成交量一直很低.

期刊摘选

But they will not curtail either illegal immigration or illicit working as much as supporters claim.

与支持这类法令的人的意愿相反,这类法令既不能阻止非法移民,也不能阻止非法工作机会的存在.

期刊摘选

Several authors have noted that flower and cone production should curtail wood increment.

几位作者都注意到,花和球果的产生会削弱木材的生长.

辞典例句

Again the purpose of this action was to curtail inflation.

此行动的目的在于抑制通货膨胀.

辞典例句

Children with the defect need to curtail activities because of risk of bleeding from minor trauma.

存在此缺陷的儿童需要限制活动以降低因微小创伤发生出血的风险.

期刊摘选

The government hopes to curtail public spending.

政府希望缩减公共事业开支.

辞典例句

The move to sharply curtail showings of the movie highlights China's efforts to limit foreign films.

给《阿凡达》的放映踩下刹车的举措彰显出中国限制外国电影的努力.

期刊摘选

The findings could lead to strategies that help curtail transmission of the disease.

该发现可能帮助我们制定出有助于降低流感传播的对策.

期刊摘选

Given this, China will continue to take measures to curtail the trend of deflation.

因此, 我们还要采取措施继续遏制通缩的趋势.

期刊摘选

NATO plans to curtail the number of troops being sent to the region.

北约计划缩减派往该地区的士兵数量。

辞典例句

I told Louie that old age would curtail her activities in time.

我告诉路易，一上年纪她的活动量就会减少。

柯林斯例句