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Dry vs Compress - What's the difference?

dry | compress | Related terms |

Dry is a related term of compress.


As an acronym dry

is (computing).

As a verb compress is

to make smaller; to press or squeeze together, or to make something occupy a smaller space or volume.

As a noun compress is

a multiply folded piece of cloth, a pouch of ice etc, used to apply to a patient's skin, cover the dressing of wounds, and placed with the aid of a bandage to apply pressure on an injury.

dry

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) drye, drie, dri, drige, dryge, . See also (l), (l), (l).

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete)

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Free from liquid or moisture.
  • * Addison
    • The weather, we agreed, was too dry for the season.
  • * Prescott
    • Not a dry eye was to be seen in the assembly.
  • (chemistry) Free of water in any state; anhydrous.
  • Thirsty; needing drink.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • Give the dry fool drink.
  • (of an alcoholic beverage) Lacking sugar or low in sugar; not sweet.
  • Maintaining temperance; void or abstinent from alcoholic beverages.
  • (of a person or joke) Subtly humorous, yet without mirth.
  • * (Washington Irving)
    • He was rather a dry , shrewd kind of body.
  • (of a scientist or his laboratory) Not working with chemical or biological matter, but, rather, doing computations.
  • (masonry) Built without mortar; dry-stone.
  • *
  • (of animals) Not giving milk.
  • Lacking interest or amusement; barren; unembellished.
  • * (Alexander Pope)
    • These epistles will become less dry , more susceptible of ornament.
  • (fine arts) Exhibiting a sharp, frigid preciseness of execution, or lacking delicate contours and soft transitions of colour.
    • Synonyms
    * (free from liquid or moisture) arid, parched
    Antonyms
    * (free from liquid or moisture) wet * (abstinent from alcohol) wet * wet
    Derived terms
    * bone dry * dry as a bone * dry as a dead dingo’s donger * dry cough * dry hole * dry ice * drily * dry run * dryly * dryness * dry spell * drywall * dry weight * like watching paint dry

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Verb

  • To lose moisture.
    • The clothes dried on the line.
  • To remove moisture from.
    • Devin dried her eyes with a handkerchief.
  • (ambitransitive, figurative) To cease or cause to cease.
    • Their sources of income dried up.
    The stream of chatter dried up.
    Derived terms
    * drier * dryer * dry out * dry up * nondrying
    See also
    * desiccant * desiccate * desiccation

    compress

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) compresser, from compressare 'to press hard/together', from compressus, the past participle of comprimere 'to compress', itself from com- 'together' + premere 'to press'

    Verb

  • To make smaller; to press or squeeze together, or to make something occupy a smaller space or volume.
    • The force required to compress a spring varies linearly with the displacement.
  • * D. Webster
    • events of centuries compressed within the compass of a single life
  • * Melmoth
    • The same strength of expression, though more compressed , runs through his historical harangues.
  • To be pressed together or folded by compression into a more economic, easier format.
    • ''Our new model compresses easily, ideal for storage and travel
  • To condense into a more economic, easier format.
    • This chart compresses the entire audit report into a few lines on a single diagram.
  • To abridge.
    • If you try to compress the entire book into a three-sentence summary, you will lose a lot of information.
  • (technology) To make digital information smaller by encoding it using fewer bits.
  • (obsolete) To embrace sexually.
    • (Alexander Pope)
    Synonyms
    * (press together ): compact, condense, pack, press, squash, squeeze * (be pressed together ): contract * (condense, abridge ): abridge, condense, shorten, truncate
    Antonyms
    * (press together ): expand * (be pressed together ): decontract * (condense, abridge ): expand, lengthen * (make computing data smaller ): uncompress
    Derived terms
    * compressed * compressed air * compressedly * compressibility * compressible * compression * compressive * compressive strength * compressor * decompress
    Related terms
    * compression

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) compresse, from compresser 'to compress', from Late (etyl) compressare 'to press hard/together', from compressus, the past participle of comprimere 'to compress', itself from com- 'together' + premere 'to press'

    Noun

    (es)
  • A multiply folded piece of cloth, a pouch of ice etc., used to apply to a patient's skin, cover the dressing of wounds, and placed with the aid of a bandage to apply pressure on an injury.
    • He held a cold compress over the sprain.
  • A machine for compressing
    • Related terms
    * compression