01 v. t. To bring or lead back to any former place or condition.
imp. & p. p.
Reduced; p. pr. & vb. n.
Reducing
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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.“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.
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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.“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.
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.(Arith.)
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7.
To add an electron to an atom or ion.(Chem.)
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8.
To restore to its proper place or condition, as a displaced organ or part; as, to reduce a dislocation, a fracture, or a hernia.(Med.)
Phrases & compounds
Reduced iron —
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 —
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 —
to obtain an equivalent expression of simpler form.
To reduce a square —
to reform the line or column from the square.