Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Reduce \Re*duce"\ (r[-e]*d[=u]s"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Reduced}
   (-d[=u]st"),; p. pr. & vb. n. {Reducing} (-d[=u]"s[i^]ng).]
   [L. reducere, reductum; pref. red-. re-, re- + ducere to
   lead. See {Duke}, and cf. {Redoubt}, n.]
   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.'' --Sir W. Scott.

            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.

Source : WordNet®

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}]

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

REDUCE
     
         A {symbolic mathematics} language with
        {ALGOL}-like {syntax}, written in {Lisp} by Anthony Hearn in
        1963.
     
        Reduce 2 is a version based on {Portable Standard LISP}.
     
        {Home (http://www.rrz.uni-koeln.de/REDUCE/)}.
     
        E-mail: .
     
        Server: [email protected].
     
        ["REDUCE, Software for Algebraic Computation", G. Rayna,
        Springer 1987].
     
        (1994-10-31)