Hypertext Webster Gateway: "abbreviation"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Abbreviation \Ab*bre`vi*a"tion\, n. [LL. abbreviatio: cf. F.
abbr['e]viation.]
1. The act of shortening, or reducing.
2. The result of abbreviating; an abridgment. --Tylor.
3. The form to which a word or phrase is reduced by
contraction and omission; a letter or letters, standing
for a word or phrase of which they are a part; as, Gen.
for Genesis; U.S.A. for United States of America.
4. (Mus.) One dash, or more, through the stem of a note,
dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, or
demi-semiquavers. --Moore.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
abbreviation
n 1: a shortened form of a word or phrase
2: shortening something by omitting parts of it
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