Red"tail` (-t?l`), n. (Zoöl.) (a) The red-tailed hawk. (b) The European
redstart.
Red"-tailed` (-t?ld`), a. Having a red tail.
Red-tailed hawk (Zoöl.), a large North American hawk (Buteo borealis).
When adult its tail is chestnut red. Called also hen hawck, and
red-tailed buzzard.
Red"-tape` (-t?p`), a. Pertaining to, or characterized by, official
formality. See Red tape, under Red, a.
Red`-tap"ism (r?d`t?p"?z'm), n. Strict adherence to official
formalities. J. C. Shairp.
Red`-tap"ist, n. One who is tenacious of a strict adherence to official
formalities. Ld. Lytton.
Red"throat` (r?d"thr?t`), n. (Zoöl.) A small Australian singing bird
(Phyrrholæmus brunneus). The upper parts are brown, the center of the
throat red.
Red"top` (-t?p`), n. (Bot.) A kind of grass (Agrostis vulgaris) highly
valued in the United States for pasturage and hay for cattle; -- called
also English grass, and in some localities herd's grass. See
Illustration in Appendix. The tall redtop is Triodia seslerioides.
Re*dub" (r?*d?b"), v. t. [F. radouber to refit or repair.] To refit; to
repair, or make reparation for; hence, to repay or requite. [Obs.]
It shall be good that you redub that negligence.
Wyatt.
God shall give power to redub it with some like requital to the
French.
Grafton.
Re*duce" (r*ds"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reduced (-dst"),; p. pr. & vb. n.
Reducing (- d"sng).] [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.
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4. To bring to a certain state or condition by grinding, pounding,
kneading, rubbing, etc.; as, to reduce a substance to powder, or to a
pasty mass; to reduce fruit, wood, or paper rags, to pulp.
It were but right And equal to reduce me to my dust.
Milton.
5. To bring into a certain order, arrangement, classification, etc.; to
bring under rules or within certain limits of descriptions and terms
adapted to use in computation; as, to reduce animals or vegetables to a
class or classes; to reduce a series of observations in astronomy; to
reduce language to rules.
6. (Arith.) (a) To change, as numbers, from one denomination into
another without altering their value, or from one denomination into
others of the same value; as, to reduce pounds, shillings, and pence to
pence, or to reduce pence to pounds; to reduce days and hours to
minutes, or minutes to days and hours. (b) To change the form of a
quantity or expression without altering its value; as, to reduce
fractions to their lowest terms, to a common denominator, etc.
7. (Chem.) To bring to the metallic state by separating from
impurities; hence, in general, to remove oxygen from; to deoxidize; to
combine with, or to subject to the action of, hydrogen; as, ferric iron
is reduced to ferrous iron; or metals are reduced from their ores; --
opposed to oxidize.
8. (Med.) To restore to its proper place or condition, as a displaced
organ or part; as, to reduce a dislocation, a fracture, or a hernia.
Reduced iron (Chem.), metallic iron obtained through deoxidation of an
oxide of iron by exposure to a current of hydrogen or other reducing
agent. When hydrogen is used the product is called also iron by
hydrogen. -- To reduce an equation (Alg.), to bring the unknown
quantity by itself on one side, and all the known quantities on the
other side, without destroying the equation. -- To reduce an expression
(Alg.), to obtain an equivalent expression of simpler form. -- To
reduce a square (Mil.), to reform the line or column from the square.
Syn. -- To diminish; lessen; decrease; abate; shorten; curtail; impair;
lower; subject; subdue; subjugate; conquer.
Re*duce"ment (r?*d?s"ment), n. Reduction. Milton.
Re*du"cent (r?*d?"sent), a. [L. reducens, p. pr. of reducere.] Tending
to reduce. -- n. A reducent agent.
Re*du"cer (-s?r), n. One who, or that which, reduces.
Re*du"ci*ble (-s?*b'll), a. Capable of being reduced.
Re*du"ci*ble*ness, n. Quality of being reducible.
Re*du"cing (r?*d?"s?ng), a & n. from Reduce.
Reducing furnace (Metal.), a furnace for reducing ores. -- Reducing
pipe fitting, a pipe fitting, as a coupling, an elbow, a tee, etc., for
connecting a large pipe with a smaller one. -- Reducing valve, a device
for automatically maintaining a diminished pressure of steam, air, gas,
etc., in a pipe, or other receiver, which is fed from a boiler or pipe
in which the pressure is higher than is desired in the receiver.
Re*duct" (r?*d?kt"), v. t.. [L. reductus, p. p. of reducere. See
Reduce.] To reduce. [Obs.] W. Warde.
Re*duc`ti*bil"i*ty (r?*d?k`t?*b?l"?*t?), n. The quality of being
reducible; reducibleness.
Re*duc"tion (r?*d?k"sh?n), n. [F. réduction, L. reductio. 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. & Alq.) The act or process of reducing. See Reduce, v. t.,
6. and To reduce an equation, To reduce an expression, under Reduce, v.
t.
3. (Astron.) (a) The correction of observations for known errors of
instruments, etc. (b) The preparation of the facts and measurements of
observations in order to deduce a general result.
4. The process of making a copy of something, as a figure, design, or
draught, on a smaller scale, preserving the proper proportions.
Fairholt.
5. (Logic) The bringing of a syllogism in one of the so-called
imperfect modes into a mode in the first figure.
6. (Chem. & Metal.) The act, process, or result of reducing; as, the
reduction of iron from its ores; the reduction of aldehyde from
alcohol.
7. (Med.) 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 to dollars. --
Reduction descending (Arith.), the operation of changing numbers of a
higher into others of a lower denomination, as dollars to cents.
Syn. -- Diminution; decrease; abatement; curtailment; subjugation;
conquest; subjection.
Re*duc"tive (-t?v), a. [Cf. F. réductif.] Tending to reduce; having the
power or effect of reducing. -- n. A reductive agent. Sir M. Hale.
Re*duc"tive*ly, adv. By reduction; by consequence.
||Ré`duit" (r?`dw?"), n. [F. See Redoubt, n. ] (Fort.) A central or
||retired work within any other work.
{ Re*dun"dance (r?*d?n"dans), Re*dun"dan*cy (-dan*s?), } n. [L.
redundantia: cf. F. redondance.]
1. The quality or state of being redundant; superfluity;
superabundance; excess.
2. That which is redundant or in excess; anything superfluous or
superabundant.
Labor . . . throws off redundacies.
Addison.
3. (Law) Surplusage inserted in a pleading which may be rejected by the
court without impairing the validity of what remains.
Re*dun"dant (-dant), a. [L. redundans, -antis, p. pr. of redundare: cf.
F. redondant. See Redound.] 1. Exceeding what is natural or necessary;
superabundant; exuberant; as, a redundant quantity of bile or food.
Notwithstanding the redundant oil in fishes, they do not increase
fat so much as flesh.
Arbuthnot.
2. Using more worrds or images than are necessary or useful;
pleonastic.
Where an suthor is redundant, mark those paragraphs to be
retrenched.