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reducing |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Reduce \Re*duce"\ (r[-e]*d[=u]s"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Reduced} (-d[=u]st"),; p. pr & vb n. {Reducing} (-d[=u]"s[i^]ng).] [L. reducere, reductum pref. red-. re-, re- + ducere to lead. See {Duke}, and cf {Redoubt}, n.] 1. To bring or lead back to any former place or condition. [Obs.] And to his brother's house reduced his wife. --Chapman. The sheep must of necessity be scattered, unless the great Shephered of souls oppose, or some of his delegates reduce and direct us --Evelyn. 2. To bring to any inferior state, with respect to rank, size, quantity, quality, value, etc.; to diminish; to lower; to degrade; to impair; as to reduce a sergeant to the ranks; to reduce a drawing; to reduce expenses; to reduce the intensity of heat. ``An ancient but reduced family.'' --Sir W. Scott. Nothing so excellent but a man may fasten upon something belonging to it to reduce it --Tillotson. Having reduced Their foe to misery beneath their fears. --Milton. Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced. --Hawthorne. 3. To bring to terms; to humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture; as to reduce a province or a fort. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Reducing \Re*du"cing\ (r?*d?"s?ng), a & n. from {Reduce}. {Reducing furnace} (Metal.), a furnace for reducing ores. {Reducing pipe fitting}, a pipe fitting, as a coupling, an elbow, a tee, etc., for connecting a large pipe with a smaller one {Reducing valve}, a device for automatically maintaining a diminished pressure of steam, air, gas, etc., in a pipe, or other receiver, which is fed from a boiler or pipe in which the pressure is higher than is desired in the receiver. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: reducing n : any process in which electrons are added to an atom or ion (as by removing oxygen or adding hydrogen); always occurs accompanied by oxidation of the reducing agent [syn: {reduction}]
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