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another; hence, an expedient tried in difficalty; often, an evasion; a trick; a fraud. "Reduced to pitiable shifts." Macaulay. I 'll find a thousand shifts to get away. Shak. Little souls on little shifts rely. Dryden.

To reduce or diminish in amount, quantity, or extent; to lessen; to abridge; to curtail; to contract; as, to shorten work, an allowance of food, etc. Here, where the subject is so fruitful, I am shortened by my chain. Dryden.

Hence, fig., to divert or reduce to a position or condition that is relatively secondary or subordinate in activity, importance, effectiveness, or the like; to switch off; to turn aside, as from a purpose. [Colloq.]

The cessation of rage, agitation, or tumilt; calmness; quiest; as, the elements were reduced to silence.

To bring low; to reduce in quantity; to waste. You sunk the river repeated draughts. Addison.

ll intestines as a product of the putrefaction of albuminous matter. It is also found in reduced indigo. Chemically it is methyl indol, C9H9N.

To prepare a skeleton of; also, to reduce, as a leaf, to its skeleton. Pop. Sci. Monthly.

figuratively, a cruel taskmaster. -- Slave hunt. (a) A search after persons in order to reduce them to slavery. Barth. (b) A search after fugitive slaves, often conducted with bloodhounds. -- Slave ship, a vessel employed in the slave trade or used for transporting slaves; a slaver. -- Slave trade, the busines of de…

To become reduced in diameter, or changed in shape, by passing from a larger to a smaller part of the bore of the barrel; -- said of a bullet when fired from a gun, pistol, or other firearm.

arts. It is a vitreous substance made of cobalt, potash, and calcined quartz fused, and reduced to a powder.

o melt or fuse, as, ore, for the purpose of separating and refining the metal; hence, to reduce; to refine; to flux or scorify; as, to smelt tin.

a. & n. from Smelt. Smelting furnace (Metal.), a furnace in which ores are smelted or reduced.

um or some similar liquid. Sodium is used combined in many salts, in the free state as a reducer, and as a means of obtaining other metals (as magnesium and aluminium) is an important commercial product. Symbol Na (Natrium). Atomic weight 23. Specific gravity 0.97. Sodium amalgam, an alloy of sodium and mercury, usuall…

hat component of the effect of the current which is due to the length of the spiral, and reduce the whole effect to that of a series of equal and parallel circular currents. When traversed by a current the solenoid exhibits polarity and attraction or repulsion, like a magnet.

To reduce to order from a confused state. Hooker.

To reduce, as irregular blocks of stone, to an approximately level surface by hammering.

Iron ore, in masses, reduced but not melted or worked.

, or Spurious quill (Zoöl.), the first, or outer, primary quill when rudimentary or much reduced in size, as in certain singing birds. -- Spurious wing (Zoöl.), the bastard wing, or alula.

To compare with, or reduce to, any given measure or standard. Shak.

To reduce to a normal standard; to calculate or adjust the strength of, by means of, and for uses in, analysis.