Definitely! Every letter had to be a sequence of dashes and dots, and so took time to enter. Even though some operators were very fast, ( Thomas Edison was one of the fastest) abbreviations were essential to quick messaging and there were many. George Dodge's The Telegraph Instructor lists a lot of the common ones alphabetically

railroad, RR

railway, Ry

ready, rdy

rebate, reb

receipts, rects

received, recd

receiving, recg

red (nite)

refrigerator, refr

relay, rela

release, “rel”

relief, rlf

repeat, rept

report, rept

report delivery charges, rept dely chgs

republican, repn

Rhode Island, RI

right, rite

roast (a great number)

round, rnd

rush (pink)

Notice that some of these are pretty intuitive, like "recd" for received. A conversation could be a little arcane but still seem a little like texting today...

Q. Chf wnts to no wi it is so hard to raise u—Chief wants to know why it is so hard to raise you?

A. Local on ts string is bad Ill hv it fixed—Local on this string (wire) is bad, I will have it fixed.

Q. Wt ws ur last to us—What was your last number to us?

A. 28—Our last number to you was 28.

Q. Tr r no exa wds in tt sig—There are no extra words in that signature.

A. Es tts rite hold it Ill get it fixed—Yes, that is right, hold it and I will get it fixed.

There were also more specialized abbreviations, perhaps the greatest number for the railroads. Railroads were critically dependent on the telegraph to manage the coming and going of trains, with orders constantly flowing back and forth and being confirmed. Much like communications in aviation today, such communications rigidly followed their own form with rules that were quite strict, because a misunderstanding could result in deaths.

for example,

“31” To c&e 9 KS.

“19” To c&e 2nd & 3rd 72 P.

“19” To c&e Exa 7421 East HA.

No 9 Eng 7228 will wait at Bourbon until six ten 610 PM at Inwood until six twenty 620 PM for 2nd & 3rd No 72 Engs 7334 & 7429 and Exa 7421 East.

In this order the three inferior trains, 2nd & 3rd No 72, and extra east engine 7421, are given a privilege, not granted on the time schedule, to run to either of these stations within a stated time as against a superior train.

Lastly, businesses might have a code book for secure communications of their own, and manufacturers could also make it simple for retailers to order from their catalogs via telegraph by listing items as a short string of letters, so that a Ford dealer sending a telegram order to Ford in 1912 would have to pay for only one word, not the four words of "transmission front thrust bearing" .

George M Dodge:The Telegraph Instructor