Compressing

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Compress \Com*press"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Compressed}; p. pr &
     vb. n. {Compressing}.] [L. compressus, p. p. of comprimere to
     compress: com- + premere to press. See Press.]
     1. 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.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              Events of centuries . . . compressed within the
              compass of a single life.             --D. Webster.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The same strength of expression, though more
              compressed, runs through his historical harangues.
                                                    --Melmoth.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To embrace sexually. [Obs.] --Pope.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (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.
        [PJC]
  
     Syn: To crowd; squeeze; condense; reduce; abridge.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  compressing
       n : applying pressure [syn: {compression}] [ant: {decompression}]