Result from Foreign Dictionaries (2 entries 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.] [1913 Webster] And to his brother's house reduced his wife. --Chapman. [1913 Webster] The sheep must of necessity be scattered, unless the great Shephered of souls oppose, or some of his delegates reduce and direct us. --Evelyn. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] Nothing so excellent but a man may fasten upon something belonging to it, to reduce it. --Tillotson. [1913 Webster] Having reduced Their foe to misery beneath their fears. --Milton. [1913 Webster] Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced. --Hawthorne. [1913 Webster] 3. To bring to terms; to humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture; as, to reduce a province or a fort. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] It were but right And equal to reduce me to my dust. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] {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. [1913 Webster] Syn: To diminish; lessen; decrease; abate; shorten; curtail; impair; lower; subject; subdue; subjugate; conquer. [1913 Webster] From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [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: {reduce}, {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: {reduce}, {come down}, {boil down}] 7: reduce in size; reduce physically; "Hot water will shrink the sweater"; "Can you shrink this image?" [syn: {shrink}, {reduce}] 8: lessen and make more modest; "reduce one's standard of living" 9: make smaller; "reduce an image" [syn: {reduce}, {scale down}] [ant: {blow up}, {enlarge}, {magnify}] 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}, {reduce}] [ant: {oxidate}, {oxidise}, {oxidize}] 11: narrow or limit; "reduce the influx of foreigners" [syn: {reduce}, {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}, {reduce}] 13: undergo meiosis; "The cells reduce" 14: reposition (a broken bone after surgery) back to its normal site 15: destress and thus weaken a sound when pronouncing it 16: reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened" [syn: {abridge}, {foreshorten}, {abbreviate}, {shorten}, {cut}, {contract}, {reduce}] [ant: {dilate}, {elaborate}, {enlarge}, {expand}, {expatiate}, {exposit}, {expound}, {flesh out}, {lucubrate}] 17: be cooked until very little liquid is left; "The sauce should reduce to one cup" [syn: {boil down}, {reduce}, {decoct}, {concentrate}] 18: cook until very little liquid is left; "The cook reduced the sauce by boiling it for a long time" [syn: {reduce}, {boil down}, {concentrate}] 19: lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture; "cut bourbon" [syn: {dilute}, {thin}, {thin out}, {reduce}, {cut}] 20: take off weight [syn: {reduce}, {melt off}, {lose weight}, {slim}, {slenderize}, {thin}, {slim down}] [ant: {gain}, {put on}]