Definition: compact
compact
adj 1: closely and firmly united or packed together; "compact
soil"; "compact clusters of flowers" [ant: loose]
2: closely crowded together; "a compact shopping center"; "a
dense population"; "thick crowds" [syn: dense, thick]
3: heavy and compact in form or stature; "a wrestler of compact
build"; "he was tall and heavyset"; "stocky legs"; "a
thick middle-aged man"; "a thickset young man" [syn: heavyset,
stocky, thick, thickset]
4: briefly giving the gist of something; "a short and
compendious book"; "a compact style is brief and pithy";
"succinct comparisons"; "a summary formulation of a
wide-ranging subject" [syn: compendious, succinct, summary]
n 1: a small cosmetics case with a mirror; to be carried in a
woman's purse [syn: powder compact]
2: a signed written agreement between two or more parties
(nations) to perform some action [syn: covenant, concordat]
3: a small and economical car [syn: compact car]
v 1: compress into a wad; "wad paper into the box" [syn: pack,
bundle, wad]
2: make more compact by or as if by pressing; "compress the
data" [syn: compress, pack together]
3: squeeze or press together; "she compressed her lips" [syn: compress,
constrict, squeeze, contract, press]
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Compact \Com*pact"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Compacted; p. pr. & vb. n. Compacting.] 1. To thrust, drive, or press closely together; to join firmly; to consolidate; to make close; -- as the parts which compose a body. Now the bright sun compacts the precious stone. --Blackstone. 2. To unite or connect firmly, as in a system. The whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth. --Eph. iv. 16.
Compact \Com"pact\, n. [L. compactum, fr. compacisci, p. p. compactus, to make an agreement with; com- + pacisci to make an agreement. See Pact.] An agreement between parties; a covenant or contract. The law of nations depends on mutual compacts, treaties, leagues, etc. --Blackstone. Wedlock is described as the indissoluble compact. --Macaulay. The federal constitution has been styled a compact between the States by which it was ratified. --Wharton. Syn: See Covenant.
Compact \Com*pact"\ (k[o^]m*p[a^]kt"), p. p. & a [L. compactus, p. p. of compingere to join or unite; com- + pangere to fasten, fix: cf. F. compacte. See Pact.] 1. Joined or held together; leagued; confederated. [Obs.] ``Compact with her that's gone.'' --Shak. A pipe of seven reeds, compact with wax together. --Peacham. 2. Composed or made; -- with of. [Poetic] A wandering fire, Compact of unctuous vapor. --Milton. 3. Closely or firmly united, as the particles of solid bodies; firm; close; solid; dense. Glass, crystal, gems, and other compact bodies. --Sir I. Newton. 4. Brief; close; pithy; not diffuse; not verbose; as, a compact discourse. Syn: Firm; close; solid; dense; pithy; sententious.
Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (2003-OCT-10)
compact 1. (Or "finite", "isolated") In domain theory, an element d of a cpo D is compact if and only if, for any chain S, a subset of D, d <= lub S => there exists s in S such that d <= s. I.e. you always reach d (or better) after a finite number of steps up the chain. ("<=" is written in LaTeX as \sqsubseteq). [Jargon File] (1995-01-13) 2. Of a design, describes the valuable property that it can all be apprehended at once in one's head. This generally means the thing created from the design can be used with greater facility and fewer errors than an equivalent tool that is not compact. Compactness does not imply triviality or lack of power; for example, C is compact and Fortran is not, but C is more powerful than Fortran. Designs become non-compact through accreting features and cruft that don't merge cleanly into the overall design scheme (thus, some fans of Classic C maintain that ANSI C is no longer compact). (1995-01-13)
Source: Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)
compact adj. Of a design, describes the valuable property that it can all be apprehended at once in one's head. This generally means the thing created from the design can be used with greater facility and fewer errors than an equivalent tool that is not compact. Compactness does not imply triviality or lack of power; for example, C is compact and FORTRAN is not, but C is more powerful than FORTRAN. Designs become non-compact through accreting features and cruft that don't merge cleanly into the overall design scheme (thus, some fans of Classic C maintain that ANSI C is no longer compact).
