re·duce /rɪˈdus, ˈdjus/
(vt.)減少,分解,降低,使變為,把…分解,把…歸納(vi.)減少,變瘦
re·duce /rɪˈd(j)us/ 動詞
復位,還原,減少,使還原,使復位
reduce
縮減 歸約
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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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"
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 or force somebody into an undignified
situation; "She reduced her niece to a servant"
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 and make more modest; "reduce one's standard of
living"
9: make smaller; "reduce an image" [syn: scale down] [ant: blow
up]
10: to remove oxygen from a compound, or cause to react with
hydrogen or form a hydride, or to undergo an increase in
the number of electrons [syn: deoxidize, deoxidise]
[ant: oxidize, 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 (a broken bone after surgery) back to its normal
site
15: reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The
manuscript must be shortened" [syn: abridge, foreshorten,
abbreviate, shorten, cut, contract] [ant: elaborate]
16: be cooked until very little liquid is left; "The sauce
should reduce to one cup" [syn: boil down, decoct, concentrate]
17: cook until very little liquid is left; "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]