shortening

• Audio (US):

  (file)

shortening (countable and uncountable, plural shortenings)

1. (US, cooking) Fat that is solid at room temperature, especially hydrogenated vegetable oil (known as vegetable shortening), used to make shortcrust pastry and in deep fat frying.
2. verbal noun of shorten: the process by which something is made shorter; a reduction in length.

   Antonyms: extension, lengthening

In older texts, the term shortening referred to any fat solid at room temperature, including butter, margarine and lard, but in more recent usage it is usually understood to refer to vegetable shortening.

shortening

1. present participle and gerund of shorten

• Heringtons

Unadapted borrowing from English shortening.

shortening n (uncountable)

1. shortening