COMPRESS, verb transitive [Latin To press. See Press.]

1. To press together by external force; to force, urge or drive into a narrower compass; to crowd; as, to compress air.

The weight of a thousand atmospheres will compress water twelve and a half per cent.

2. To embrace carnally.

3. To crowd; to bring within narrow limits or space.

Events of centuries--compressed within the compass of a single life.

COMPRESS, noun In surgery, a bolster of soft linen cloth, with several folds, used by surgeons to cover a plaster or dressing, to keep it in its place and defend the part from the external air.