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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Re-dŭc'tion, n.

noun

n. [Lat. reductio, Fr. réduction, Pr. reductio, Sp. reduccion, It. riduzione. See REDUCE.]

  1. The act of reducing, or state 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.
  2. (Arith.) (a.) The act or operation of changing numbers from one denomination to another without altering their value, or of changing numbers of one denomination into others of the same value; as, the reduction of pounds, ounces, pennyweights, and grains to grains, or the reduction of grains to pounds; the reduction of days and hours to minutes, or of minutes to hours and days. (b.) The act or process of changing the form of a quantity or expression without altering its value; as, the reduction of fractions to lower or the lowest terms, to a common denominator, or the like.
  3. (Alg.) The act or operation of solving an equation by bringing the unknown quantity by itself on one side, and all the known quantities on the other side, without destroying the equation.
  4. (Astron.) (a.) The correction of observations for known errors of instruments, &c. (b.) The collection of observations to obtain a general result.
  5. The process of making a copy of something, as a figure, design, or draught, on a smaller scale, preserving the proper proportions. Fairholt.
  6. (Logic.) The bringing a syllogism in one of the so called imperfect modes to a mode in the first figure.
  7. (Metal.) The operation of separating a metal from other substances with which it is combined.
  8. (Surg.) The operation of restoring a dislocated or fractured part to its former place.

Reduction ascending (Arith.), the operation of changing numbers of a lower into others of a higher denomination, as cents into dollars. — Reduction descending, the operation of changing numbers of a higher into others of a lower denomination. Syn. — Diminution; decrease; abatement; curtailment; subjugation; conquest; subjection.