compress

Borrowed 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”).

• enPR: kəmprĕs', IPA^(key): /kəmˈpɹɛs/

• Audio (US), verb

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛs

compress (third-person singular simple present compresses, present participle compressing, simple past and past participle compressed)

1. (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.

   • D. Webster

     events of centuries […] compressed within the compass of a single life

   • Melmoth

     The same strength of expression, though more compressed, runs through his historical harangues.

2. (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

3. (transitive) To condense into a more economic, easier format.

   This chart compresses the entire audit report into a few lines on a single diagram.

4. (transitive) To abridge.

   If you try to compress the entire book into a three-sentence summary, you will lose a lot of information.

5. (technology, transitive) To make digital information smaller by encoding it using fewer bits.
6. (obsolete) To embrace sexually.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Alexander Pope to this entry?)

• (press together): compact, condense, pack, press, squash, squeeze; see also Thesaurus:compress
• (be pressed together): contract
• (condense, abridge): abridge, condense, shorten, truncate; see also Thesaurus:shorten

• (press together): expand
• (be pressed together): decontract
• (condense, abridge): expand, lengthen
• (make computing data smaller): uncompress

• compression

From Middle French compresse, from compresser 'to compress', from Late Latin compressare 'to press hard/together', from compressus, the past participle of comprimere 'to compress', itself from com- 'together' + premere 'to press'

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmpɹɛs/
• (US) enPR: kŏm'prĕs, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmpɹɛs/

• Audio (US), noun

  (file)

compress (plural compresses)

1. 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.

2. A machine for compressing

• compression