The term 'shorten' can refer to a variety of activities, such as concentrating, pruning, shearing, mowing, shaving, eliding, bobbing, digesting, decreasing, cutting, loping, clipping, cropping, pareing, taking up, abridging, truncating, telescoping, and abbreviating. Concentrating involves reducing a substance to its essential elements, while pruning is the process of removing parts of a plant to encourage growth. Shearing is the act of cutting wool off of sheep, and mowing is the act of cutting grass. Shaving is the act of removing hair from the body, and eliding is the process of omitting a sound or syllable when speaking. Bobbing is the act of cutting hair short, and digesting is the process of breaking down food in the stomach. Decreasing is the act of making something smaller, while cutting is the act of using a sharp object to divide something. Loping is the act of cutting off the end of something, and clipping is the act of cutting something with scissors. Cropping is the act of cutting off the edges of a photograph, and pareing is the act of trimming away the outer layer of something. Taking up is the act of making something shorter, and abridging is the act of shortening a text. Truncating is the act of shortening something by cutting off the end, and telescoping is the act of making something shorter by combining parts. Finally, abbreviating is the act of shortening a word or phrase.