Hypertext Webster Gateway: "reduce"
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) 1.7 (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}]
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