compress
UK /ˈkɒmpɹɛs/ · US /ˈkɑmpɹɛs/ verb, noun
Forms compresses compressing compressed
- verb (transitive) To make smaller; to press or squeeze together, or to make something occupy a smaller space or volume. “The force required to compress a spring varies linearly with the displacement.”
- verb (intransitive) To be pressed together or folded by compression into a more economic, easier format. “Our new model compresses easily, ideal for storage and travel”
- verb (transitive) To condense into a more economic, easier format. “This chart compresses the entire audit report into a few lines on a single diagram.”
- verb (transitive) To abridge. “If you try to compress the entire book into a three-sentence summary, you will lose a lot of information.”
- verb (computing, transitive) To make digital information smaller by encoding it using fewer bits.
- verb (physics, transitive) To make a pulse or particle bunch shorter by applying dispersion to it.
- verb (obsolete) To embrace sexually.
- noun (medicine) A multiply folded piece of cloth, a pouch of ice, etc., used to apply to a patient's skin, cover the dressing of wounds, and placed with the aid of a bandage to apply pressure on an injury. “He held a cold compress over the sprain.”
- noun A machine for compressing.
Synonyms
compact condense pack press squash squeeze contract abridge shorten truncate abbreviate chop down chop off cut short curt curtail lop off make shorter pare prune pack together constrict
Antonyms
expand decontract lengthen uncompress decompress unzip stretch decompact decompactify densen
Etymology
From Middle English compressen, from Old French compresser, from Late Latin compressare (“to press hard/together”), from Latin compressus, the past participle of comprimō (“to compress”), itself from com- (“together”) + premō (“press”).
From Middle French compresse, from compresse (“to compress”), from Late Latin compressare (“to press hard/together”), from Latin compressus, the past participle of comprimō (“to compress”), itself from com- (“together”) + premō (“press”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To press or squeeze together; to force into a narrower compass; to reduce the volume of by pressure; to compact; to condense; as, to compress air or water.
- verb To embrace sexually. [Obs.] Pope.
- noun A folded piece of cloth, pledget of lint, etc., used to cover the dressing of wounds, and so placed as, by the aid of a bandage, to make due pressure on any part.
Etymology [L. compressus, p. p. of comprimere to compress: com- + premere to press. See Press.]
Etymology [F. compresse.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “compress”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details