Hypertext Webster Gateway: "reducing"

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 Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Reducing \Re*du"cing\ (r?*d?"s?ng),
a & n. from {Reduce}.

{Reducing furnace} (Metal.), a furnace for reducing ores.

{Reducing pipe fitting}, a pipe fitting, as a coupling, an
elbow, a tee, etc., for connecting a large pipe with a
smaller one.

{Reducing valve}, a device for automatically maintaining a
diminished pressure of steam, air, gas, etc., in a pipe,
or other receiver, which is fed from a boiler or pipe in
which the pressure is higher than is desired in the
receiver.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

reducing
n 1: any process in which electrons are added to an atom or ion
(as by removing oxygen or adding hydrogen); always
occurs accompanied by oxidation of the reducing agent
[syn: {reduction}]
2: loss of excess weight (as by dieting); becoming slimmer; "a
doctor supervised her reducing"


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