COMPRESS • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Compress

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/kˈɑmprɛs/ /kəmprˈɛs/ Listen

verb

Compress v. t. (past & past part. compressed; pres. part. compressing)

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. "Events of centuries... compressed within the compass of a single life." "The same strength of expression, though more compressed, runs through his historical harangues."

To embrace sexually. (Obs.)

(Computers) To reduce the space required for storage (of binary data) by an algorithm which converts the data to a smaller number of bits while preserving the information content. The compressed data is usually decompressed to recover the initial data format before subsequent use.

Synonyms: To crowd; squeeze; condense; reduce; abridge.

noun

Compress n. (Surg.) 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.

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Etymology of 'Compress'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Compress" Quotes from Famous Books

... cloth should be placed outside to protect the pillow or the patient's clothing. Cold compresses for inflamed eyes should be of one thickness only, and a little larger than the eye. Have a number and change very often. Use a separate compress for each eye. If there is a discharge a compress should not be used a second time. The discarded compresses should be collected in a paper bag or wrapped in newspapers ...

— Scouting For Girls, Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts • Girl Scouts

... brother Francisco once again, sentiments and cravings which gave to her countenance an expression of somber lowering and concentrated passion, such as it was wont to exhibit in those days when her simulated deafness and dumbness forced her to subdue all the workings of her excited soul, and compress her vermilion lips to check the ebullition of that language which on those occasions struggled to pour ...

— Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf • George W. M. Reynolds

... surface. Sometimes obstinate or even alarming bleeding may follow the pulling of a tooth. The best remedy for this is to plug the cavity with lint or cotton wet with the solution of persulphate of iron, and apply a compress which may be kept in place by ...

— Burroughs' Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information, 1889 • Barkham Burroughs

... life of Andrew Lackaday and Elodie, I again labour under the difficulty of having to compress into a few impressionistic strokes the history of years. The task is in one way made easier, in that these years of work and wandering scarcely show the development of anything. What was true at the end of the first year of their partnership seems to be true at the end of the second, ...

— The Mountebank • William J. Locke

... why Cork has such a springiness and swelling nature when compress'd? and how it comes to suffer so great a compression, or seeming penetration of dimensions, so as to be made a substance as heavie again and more, bulk for bulk, as it was before compression, and yet suffer'd to return, is found to extend it self again into the same space? Our Microscope will ...

— Micrographia • Robert Hooke

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