CURTAIL, verb transitive [Latin, to cut; edge.] To shorten; to cut off the end or a part; as, to curtail words. Hence in a more general sense, to shorten in any manner; to abridge; to diminish; as, to curtail our privileges. It is followed by of before the thing shortened. His name was curtailed of three letters. We are curtailed of our rights.
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Webster's Dictionary 1828
American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828.