compress

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to squeeze or press together

   I compressed my lips while applying chapstick.

2. 2
   verb

   to make more compact by or as if by pressing

   Compress the data.

3. 3
   verb

   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.

4. 4
   verb

   To be pressed together or folded by compression into a more economic, easier format.

   Our new model compresses easily, ideal for storage and travel

5. 5
   verb

   To condense into a more economic, easier format.

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

6. 6
   verb

   To abridge.

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

7. 7
   verb

   To make digital information smaller by encoding it using fewer bits.

   The command-line tool gzip allows you to compress files in a few different ways. First, gzip can compress results from standard input.

8. 8
   verb

   To make a pulse or particle bunch shorter by applying dispersion to it.

   Diffraction gratings are by far the most common elements used to stretch and compress pulses because of their substantial angular dispersion, […]

Etymology

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”).