verb

• (transitive) 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."
• (intransitive) To be pressed together or folded by compression into a more economic, easier format.
  "Our new model compresses easily, ideal for storage and travel"
• (transitive) To condense into a more economic, easier format.
  "This chart compresses the entire audit report into a few lines on a single diagram."
• (transitive) To abridge.
  "If you try to compress the entire book into a three-sentence summary, you will lose a lot of information."

noun

• (medicine) 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."