Re·duce v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reduced ; p. pr. & vb. n. Reducing ]
 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.”
    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.
 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.
 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.
 6. Arith. (a) 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. (b) To change the form of a quantity or expression without altering its value; as, to reduce fractions to their lowest terms, to a common denominator, etc.
 7. Chem. To add an electron to an atom or ion. Specifically: To remove oxygen from; to deoxidize. Metallurgy To bring to the metallic state by separating from combined oxygen and impurities; as, metals are reduced from their ores. Chem.  To combine with, or to subject to the action of, hydrogen or any other reducing agent; as, ferric iron is reduced to ferrous iron; aldehydes can be reduced to alcohols by lithium hydride; -- opposed to oxidize.
 8. Med. To restore to its proper place or condition, as a displaced organ or part; as, to reduce a dislocation, a fracture, or a hernia.
 Reduced iron Chem., 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 Alg., 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 Alg., to obtain an equivalent expression of simpler form.
 To reduce a square Mil., to reform the line or column from the square.
 Syn: -- To diminish; lessen; decrease; abate; shorten; curtail; impair; lower; subject; subdue; subjugate; conquer.

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 Re·duc·tion n.
 1. The act of reducing, or state of being reduced; conversion to a given state or condition; diminution; conquest; as, the reduction of a body to powder; the reduction of things to order; the reduction of the expenses of government; the reduction of a rebellious province.
 2. Arith. & Alg. The act or process of reducing. See Reduce, v. t., 6. and To reduce an equation, To reduce an expression, under Reduce, v. t.
 3. Astron. (a) The correction of observations for known errors of instruments, etc. (b) The preparation of the facts and measurements of observations in order to deduce a general result.
 4. The process of making a copy of something, as a figure, design, or draught, on a smaller scale, preserving the proper proportions.
 5. Logic The bringing of a syllogism in one of the so-called imperfect modes into a mode in the first figure.
 6. Chem. & Metal. The act, process, or result of reducing7; as, the reduction of iron from its ores; the reduction of an aldehyde into an alcohol.
 7. Med. The operation of restoring a dislocated or fractured part to its former place.
 Reduction ascending Arith., the operation of changing numbers of a lower into others of a higher denomination, as cents to dollars.
 Reduction descending Arith., the operation of changing numbers of a higher into others of a lower denomination, as dollars to cents.
 Syn: -- Diminution; decrease; abatement; curtailment; subjugation; conquest; subjection.

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