Search the Dictionary

To reduce. [Obs.] W. Warde.

The quality of being reducible; reducibleness.

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.

A reductive agent. Sir M. Hale.

By reduction; by consequence.

The act of abating, or the state of being abated; a lessening, diminution, or reduction; removal or putting an end to; as, the abatement of a nuisance is the suppression thereof.

The act abridging, or the state of being abridged; diminution; lessening; reduction or deprivation; as, an abridgment of pleasures or of expenses.

The reduction of fluids into fine spray.

zinc, found in pale green or blue crystalline aggregations. It yields a kind of brass on reduction.

sis of a substance by one of its own products, as of silver oxide by the silver formed by reduction of a small portion of it. -- Au`to*cat`a*lyt"ic (#), a.

iety of camphor, C10H17.OH, resembling ordinary camphor, from which it can be produced by reduction. It is said to occur in the camphor tree of Borneo and Sumatra (Dryobalanops camphora), but the natural borneol is rarely found in European or American commerce, being in great request by the Chinese. Called also Borneo…

Immediate or prompt payment in current funds; as, to sell goods for cash; to make a reduction in price for cash. Cash account (Bookkeeping), an account of money received, disbursed, and on hand. -- Cash boy, in large retail stores, a messenger who carries the money received by the salesman from customers to a cashier,…

Cineration; reduction to ashes. [Obs.]

A melting together; the reduction of different bodies into one mass by fusion. The incorporation of metals by simple colliquefaction. Bacon.

regating, or bringing together, or of collecting into one aggregate or mass. The means of reduction in the fire is but by the congregation of homogeneal parts. Bacon.

A change or reduction of the form or value of a proposition; as, the conversion of equations; the conversion of proportions.

A skein of yarn. Wright. A cut in rates (Railroad), a reduction in fare, freight charges, etc., below the established rates. -- A short cut, a cross route which shortens the way and cuts off a circuitous passage. -- The cut of one's jib, the general appearance of a person. [Colloq.] -- To draw cuts, to draw lots, as…

A lopping off; a diminution; abatement; deficit. Specifically: Reduction of a claim by deducting a counterclaim; set-off. Abbott.

Diminution or reduction of strength, efficacy, or value; degeneration; deterioration. The development and degradation of the alphabetic forms can be traced. I. Taylor (The Alphabet).

or established premises; -- opposed to Indirect, or Negative, demonstration (called also reductio ad absurdum), in which the correct conclusion is an inference from the demonstration that any other hypothesis must be incorrect.