COMPRESS

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does compress mean? 

• COMPRESS (noun)
  The noun COMPRESS has 1 sense:

1. a cloth pad or dressing (with or without medication) applied firmly to some part of the body (to relieve discomfort or reduce fever)

  Familiarity information: COMPRESS used as a noun is very rare.

• COMPRESS (verb)
  The verb COMPRESS has 2 senses:

1. make more compact by or as if by pressing

2. squeeze or press together

  Familiarity information: COMPRESS used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COMPRESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A cloth pad or dressing (with or without medication) applied firmly to some part of the body (to relieve discomfort or reduce fever)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("compress" is a kind of...):

dressing; medical dressing (a cloth covering for a wound or sore)

Meronyms (substance of "compress"):

fomentation (a substance used as a warm moist medicinal compress or poultice)

• COMPRESS (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they compress ... he / she / it compresses
Past simple: compressed   
Past participle: compressed   
-ing form: compressing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make more compact by or as if by pressing

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

compact; compress; pack together

Context example:

compress the data

Hypernyms (to "compress" is one way to...):

force; squeeze; wedge (squeeze like a wedge into a tight space)

"Compress" entails doing...:

press (exert pressure or force to or upon)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "compress"):

pack; tamp; tamp down (press down tightly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Antonym:

decompress (restore to its uncompressed form)

Derivation:

compressing (applying pressure)

compression (encoding information while reducing the bandwidth or bits required)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Squeeze or press together

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

compact; compress; constrict; contract; press; squeeze

Context example:

the spasm contracted the muscle

Hypernyms (to "compress" is one way to...):

tighten (become tight or tighter)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "compress"):

choke; strangle (constrict (someone's) throat and keep from breathing)

prim (contract one's lips)

astringe (constrict or bind or draw together)

strangulate (constrict a hollow organ or vessel so as to stop the flow of blood or air)

convulse (contract involuntarily, as in a spasm)

convulse (cause to contract)

bear down; overbear (contract the abdominal muscles during childbirth to ease delivery)

choke; fret; gag (be too tight; rub or press)

choke; scrag (wring the neck of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

compressible (capable of being compressed or made more compact)

compressible (capable of being easily compressed)

compressing; compression (applying pressure)

compression (the process or result of becoming smaller or pressed together)

compressor (a mechanical device that compresses gasses)

 Context examples 

A solid composed of active ingredient(s), excipients (usually electrolytes and bulking agents), and a solvent system which are lyophilized to yield a compressed solid with uniform ingredient distribution.

(Cake Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus)

Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) Other methods I use to relieve pain include; warm compresses.

(BPI - Warm Compresses to Relieve Pain, NCI Thesaurus)

Sometimes, thickening from irritated tendons or other swelling narrows the tunnel and causes the nerve to be compressed.

(Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

A region of compressed stem tissue from which new shoots are produced, generally found near the surface of the soil where the root of a seed plant joins the stem.

(Crown, Food and Drug Administration)

A sense of discomfort or distress that is squeezing or excessively compressing.

(Crushing Pain, NCI Thesaurus)

A highly elastic protein found throughout the body, elastin allows blood vessels and organs—like the skin, uterus and lungs—to return to their original shape after being stretched or compressed.

(Biomaterial Artificial Protein Helps Heal Tissue, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Compressed into the very lowest vacant corner were these words—“I had not a spare moment on Tuesday, as you know, for Miss Woodhouse's beautiful little friend.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

When a star passes within a certain distance of a black hole, the stellar material gets stretched and compressed — or "spaghettified" — as the black hole swallows it.

(Studies Find Echoes of Black Holes Eating Stars, NASA)

Conventional cooling technologies rely on the thermal changes that occur when a compressed fluid expands.

(Green material for refrigeration identified, University of Cambridge)

The largest and most superficial muscle on the lateral side of the anterior abdomen which compresses the abdomen and pulls the chest downward.

(External Oblique Muscle, NCI Thesaurus)