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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

... "two," both fired so exactly together, that only one report was heard. Barron was struck in the right hip, as Decatur intended, and sank to the ground. Decatur stood erect a moment and was seen to turn pale, compress his lips, and press his hand against his side. Then he fell, the ball having passed ...

— Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 2 of 8 • Various

... quantity. Cotton with a fine long staple grows wild in quantities wherever there is open ground, but it is not cultivated by the natives; and when attempts have been made to get them to collect it they do so, but bring it in very dirty, and the traders having no machinery to compress it like that used in America, it does not pay to ship. Indigo is common everywhere along the Coast and used by the natives for dyeing, as is also a teazle, which gives a very fine permanent maroon; and besides these there are many other dyes and drugs used by them—colocynth, ...

— Travels in West Africa • Mary H. Kingsley

... woman of forty-eight, of an ample though still beautiful figure. Her flowing dress of white brocade made no attempt to compress, to sustain or to attenuate. No one could say that a woman who stood as she did, with the port of a goddess—the small head majestically poised over such shoulders and such a breast—was getting fat; yet no one could deny that there was redundancy. ...

— Tante • Anne Douglas Sedgwick

... of the State, Machiavelli turns once more to the qualities and conduct of the Prince. So closely packed are these concluding chapters that it is almost impossible to compress them further. The author at the outset states his purpose: 'Since it is my object to write what shall be useful to whosoever understands it, it seems to me better to follow the practical truth of things rather ...

— Machiavelli, Volume I - The Art of War; and The Prince • Niccolo Machiavelli

... chamber W and falls directly upon the spraying cone S. The hight of this spraying cone is determined by the tension upon the spring T, below the piston R, the latter being connected to the cone by a spindle L. An increase of the water pressure inside the chamber W will thus compress the spring, and the spraying cone being consequently lowered increases the aperture between it and the sloping lower wall of the chamber W, allowing a greater volume of water to be sprayed. The piston R incidentally prevents water entering ...

— Steam Turbines - A Book of Instruction for the Adjustment and Operation of - the Principal Types of this Class of Prime Movers • Hubert E. Collins

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