/keuhm pres"euhr/ , n.
1. a person or thing that compresses.
2. Anat. a muscle that compresses some part of the body.
3. Surg. an instrument for compressing a part of the body.
4. a pump or other machine for reducing volume and increasing pressure of gases in order to condense the gases, drive pneumatically powered machinery, etc.
5. Electronics. a transducer that produces an output with a range of voltages whose ratio is smaller than that of the range of the input signal. Cf. expander (def. 2).
[ 1745-55; COMPRESS + -OR 2 ]