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reduce |
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 WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: reduce v 1: cut down on make a reduction in "reduce your daily fat intake"; "The employer wants to cut back health benefits" [syn: {cut down}, {cut back}, {trim}, {trim down}, {trim back}, {cut}, {bring down}] 2: make less complex; "reduce a problem to a single question" [syn: {simplify}] 3: bring to humbler or weaker state or condition; "He reduced the population to slavery" 4: simplify the form of a mathematical equation of expression by substituting one term for another 5: lower in grade or rank; "She reduced her niece to a servant"; force somebody into an unpleasant situation 6: be the essential element; "The proposal boils down to a compromise" [syn: {come down}, {boil down}] 7: reduce in size; reduce physically; "Hot water will shrink the sweater"; "Can you shrink this image?" [syn: {shrink}] 8: lessen; "reduced standard of living" 9: make smaller; "reduce an image" [syn: {scale down}] [ant: {blow up}] 10: remove oxygen from a compound, in chemistry [syn: {deoxidize}, {deoxidise}] [ant: {oxidize}] 11: narrow or limit; "reduce the influx of foreigners" [syn: {tighten}] 12: put down by force or intimidation; "The government quashes any attempt of an uprising"; "China keeps down her dissidents very efficiently"; "The rich landowners subjugated the peasants working the land" [syn: {repress}, {quash}, {keep down}, {subdue}, {subjugate}] 13: undergo meiosis; "The cells reduce" 14: reposition back to its normal site, as of a broken bone, in surgery 15: reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened" [syn: {abridge}, {foreshorten}, {abbreviate}, {shorten}, {cut}, {contract}] 16: be cooked until very little is left as of sauces; "The sauce should reduce to one cup" [syn: {boil down}, {decoct}, {concentrate}] 17: cook until very little liquid is left as of sauces; "The cook reduced the sauce by boiling it for a long time" [syn: {boil down}, {concentrate}] 18: lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture; "cut bourbon" [syn: {dilute}, {thin}, {thin out}, {cut}] 19: take off weight [syn: {melt off}, {lose weight}, {slim}, {slenderize}, {thin}, {slim down}] [ant: {gain}] From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: REDUCEA {symbolic mathematics} language with {ALGOL}-like {syntax}, written in {Lisp} by Anthony Hearn in 1963. Reduce 2 is a version based on {Portable Standard LISP}. {Home (http://www.rrz.uni-koeln.de/REDUCE/)}. E-mail: . Server: reduce-netlib@rand.org. ["REDUCE, Software for Algebraic Computation", G. Rayna, Springer 1987]. (1994-10-31)
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