compound

Meanings

Noun

  • An enclosure within which workers, prisoners, or soldiers are confined.
  • An enclosure for secure storage.
  • A group of buildings situated close together, e.g. for a school or block of offices.
  • Anything made by combining several things.
  • A substance made from any combination elements.
  • A substance formed by chemical union of two or more ingredients in definite proportions by weight.
  • A lexeme that consists of more than one stem.
  • A compound locomotive, a steam locomotive with both high-pressure and low-pressure cylinders.

Adjective

  • Composed of elements; not simple.
  • Dealing with numbers of various denominations of quantity, or with processes more complex than the simple process.
  • An octave higher than originally (i.e. a compound major second is equivalent to a major ninth).

Verb

  • To form (a resulting mixture) by combining different elements, ingredients, or parts; to mingle with something else.
  • To settle by agreeing on less than the claim, or on different terms than those stipulated.
  • To settle amicably; to adjust by agreement.
  • To come to terms of agreement; to settle by a compromise.
  • To compose; to constitute.
  • To increase in value with interest, where the interest is earned on both the principal sum and prior earned interest.
  • To worsen a situation.
  • Of a horse: to fail to maintain speed.

Origin

  • Possibly from Malay kampong, kampung, via Dutch or Portuguese, altered under the influence of Etymology 2.
  • From Middle English compounen, from Middle French componre, compondre, from Latin componō, from Latin com- ("together") + ponō.

Modern English dictionary

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