Reduce

4 definitions found

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

  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.]


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              And to his brother's house reduced his wife.
                                                    --Chapman.
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              The sheep must of necessity be scattered, unless the
              great Shephered of souls oppose, or some of his
              delegates reduce and direct us.       --Evelyn.
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     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.
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              Nothing so excellent but a man may fasten upon
              something belonging to it, to reduce it.
                                                    --Tillotson.
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              Having reduced
              Their foe to misery beneath their fears. --Milton.
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              Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which
              she found the clergyman reduced.      --Hawthorne.
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     3. To bring to terms; to humble; to conquer; to subdue; to
        capture; as, to reduce a province or a fort.
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     4. To bring to a certain state or condition by grinding,
        pounding, kneading, rubbing, etc.; as, to reduce a
        substance to powder, or to a pasty mass; to reduce fruit,
        wood, or paper rags, to pulp.
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              It were but right
              And equal to reduce me to my dust.    --Milton.
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     5. To bring into a certain order, arrangement,
        classification, etc.; to bring under rules or within
        certain limits of descriptions and terms adapted to use in
        computation; as, to reduce animals or vegetables to a
        class or classes; to reduce a series of observations in
        astronomy; to reduce language to rules.
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     6. (Arith.)
        (a) To change, as numbers, from one denomination into
            another without altering their value, or from one
            denomination into others of the same value; as, to
            reduce pounds, shillings, and pence to pence, or to
            reduce pence to pounds; to reduce days and hours to
            minutes, or minutes to days and hours.
        (b) To change the form of a quantity or expression without
            altering its value; as, to reduce fractions to their
            lowest terms, to a common denominator, etc.
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     7. (Chem.) To add an electron to an atom or ion.
        Specifically: To remove oxygen from; to deoxidize.
        (Metallurgy) To bring to the metallic state by separating
        from combined oxygen and impurities; as, metals are
        reduced from their ores. (Chem.) To combine with, or to
        subject to the action of, hydrogen or any other reducing
        agent; as, ferric iron is reduced to ferrous iron;
        aldehydes can be reduced to alcohols by lithium hydride;
        -- opposed to {oxidize}.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     8. (Med.) To restore to its proper place or condition, as a
        displaced organ or part; as, to reduce a dislocation, a
        fracture, or a hernia.
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     {Reduced iron} (Chem.), metallic iron obtained through
        deoxidation of an oxide of iron by exposure to a current
        of hydrogen or other reducing agent. When hydrogen is used
        the product is called also {iron by hydrogen}.
  
     {To reduce an equation} (Alg.), to bring the unknown quantity
        by itself on one side, and all the known quantities on the
        other side, without destroying the equation.
  
     {To reduce an expression} (Alg.), to obtain an equivalent
        expression of simpler form.
  
     {To reduce a square} (Mil.), to reform the line or column
        from the square.
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     Syn: To diminish; lessen; decrease; abate; shorten; curtail;
          impair; lower; subject; subdue; subjugate; conquer.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [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"
       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 or force somebody into an undignified
          situation; "She reduced her niece to a servant"
       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 and make more modest; "reduce one's standard of
          living"
       9: make smaller; "reduce an image" [syn: {scale down}] [ant: {blow
          up}]
       10: to remove oxygen from a compound, or cause to react with
           hydrogen or form a hydride, or to undergo an increase in
           the number of electrons [syn: {deoxidize}, {deoxidise}]
           [ant: {oxidize}, {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 (a broken bone after surgery) back to its normal
           site
       15: reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The
           manuscript must be shortened" [syn: {abridge}, {foreshorten},
            {abbreviate}, {shorten}, {cut}, {contract}] [ant: {elaborate}]
       16: be cooked until very little liquid is left; "The sauce
           should reduce to one cup" [syn: {boil down}, {decoct}, {concentrate}]
       17: cook until very little liquid is left; "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 Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  404 Moby Thesaurus words for "reduce":
     abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abrade, abridge, abstract,
     acetify, acidify, acidulate, adjust, adjust to, adulterate,
     afflict, alkalify, alkalize, allay, alleviate, allow, alter,
     analyze, anatomize, anesthetize, appease, apportion, assay,
     assimilate to, assuage, attemper, attenuate, bank the fire,
     bankrupt, baptize, bate, bear down, beat down, become, beggar,
     belittle, bend, benumb, blunt, bob, boil down, borate, box in,
     break, break down, break up, bring down, bring low, bring to,
     bring to terms, bump, bust, capsulize, carbonate, catalyze, change,
     change into, change over, charge off, chasten, cheapen, chemical,
     chlorinate, circumscribe, clip, coarct, compact, compress,
     concentrate, condense, condition, conquer, consolidate, constrain,
     constrict, constringe, contract, control, convert, couch, count,
     count calories, cramp, cripple, crop, crush, curtail, cushion, cut,
     cut back, cut down, cut off short, cut prices, cut short, damp,
     dampen, de-emphasize, deaden, deaden the pain, debase, debilitate,
     decline, decrease, deduct, deflate, degrade, demean, demote,
     deplume, depreciate, depress, derange, derogate, detract, detrude,
     devaluate, devitalize, diet, dilute, diminish, disable, discount,
     disgrade, disorder, disparage, displume, dissect, distill, dive,
     divide, do over, dock, downbear, downgrade, downplay, drain, draw,
     draw in, draw together, drop, dull, dump, dump on, ease,
     ease matters, eat away, electrolyze, elide, enervate, enfeeble,
     epitomize, erode, eviscerate, exhaust, extenuate, extract, fall,
     fall in price, fell, ferment, file away, fix, flatten, foment,
     foreshorten, give relief, give way, grind, gruel, haul down, hedge,
     hedge about, homopolymerize, hospitalize, humble, humiliate,
     hydrate, hydrogenate, hydroxylate, impair, impoverish, increase,
     indent, indispose, invalid, irrigate, isomerize, jew down,
     keep within bounds, kick back, knit, knock down, lay, lay low,
     lay up, leach, leaven, lenify, lessen, let down, let up on,
     lighten, limit, lose flesh, lose weight, lower, lull, make,
     make allowance, make over, mark down, master, measure, minimize,
     mitigate, moderate, modify, modulate, mollify, mow, narrow,
     naturalize, nip, nitrate, nose-dive, numb, number, obtund,
     overmaster, override, oversimplify, overwhelm, oxidize, pad,
     palliate, parcel, pare, pauperize, pepsinate, peroxidize,
     phosphatize, play down, plummet, plunge, poll, pollard, polymerize,
     poultice, pour balm into, pour oil on, powder, press down,
     prostrate, prune, pucker, pucker up, pull down, pulp, purify,
     purse, push down, put down, qualify, quantify, quantize, quell,
     rarefy, rate, rattle, reap, rebate, recap, recapitulate, reconvert,
     reduce the temperature, reduce to, reduce to elements,
     reduce weight, refine, refund, regulate by, relieve, remove,
     render, reset, resolve, resolve into, restrain, restrict, retrench,
     reverse, ride down, roll back, rub, rub away, sag, salve, sap,
     scale down, season, segment, separate, set, set conditions,
     set down, set limits, shake, shake up, shave, shear, shift,
     shorten, sicken, simplify, sink, slacken, slake, slash, slenderize,
     slim, slim down, slow down, slump, smash, smother, snub, sober,
     sober down, soften, soften up, solidify, soothe, step down, stifle,
     strangle, strangulate, streamline, strip down, strip of rank,
     stunt, stupe, subdivide, subduct, subdue, subjugate, subtract,
     sulfate, sulfatize, sulfonate, sum up, summarize, suppress, switch,
     switch over, synopsize, take a premium, take away, take down,
     take from, take in, take off, take off weight, tame, telescope,
     temper, thin, thin down, thin out, thrust down, tone down,
     trample down, trample underfoot, transform, tread underfoot, trim,
     trip up, triturate, truncate, tune down, turn, turn back,
     turn into, tyrannize, unbrace, undermine, underplay, unman,
     unnerve, unstrengthen, unstring, vanquish, water, water down,
     weaken, wear away, weed, weight-watch, withdraw, work, wrinkle,
     write off
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  REDUCE
       
           A {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)