compressor

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin compressor (“one who compresses”),^[2][3][4][5] an agent noun formed from compressus, the past participle of comprimō (“to press together, squeeze”).^[3][5][4] The Latin verb is formed from com- (“with, together”) and premō (“to press”), which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to strike”).^[3][4] The Shorter Oxford and Dictionary.com instead take the English word as formed within English from the verb compress and the suffix -or.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something that compresses, first used of a medical instrument: 1785 in Etymonline.^[3] The dates differ widely: Dictionary.com places the word in 1745–55,^[7] while the OED's first record is from 1836–9, in Todd's Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology, for a muscle that compresses a part of the body,^[2] and Merriam-Webster gives 1839.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word began in anatomy and surgery: a muscle that squeezes a part (1836), a compress (1851), and a surgical instrument for pressing on a nerve or artery, or a tourniquet (1870).^[2][3] In the mid-19th century it spread to other machines that press or grip, such as a device for holding a gun carriage down during the recoil (1859) and a lever that jams a running anchor chain (about 1860).^[2] The sense that is now the main one, a machine for compressing air, especially to drive other machinery, is recorded from 1874, first as a short form of air compressor.^[2][3] In the 20th century the word was also applied to the worker who operates such a machine (1920),^[2] and modern dictionaries add the part of a gas turbine that compresses the air before combustion and an electronic device that narrows the range of a signal's volume.^[8][5]

Timeline

• 1745–55 – first recorded, according to Dictionary.com.^[7]
• 1785 – a medical instrument that compresses.^[3]
• 1836 – a muscle that compresses a part of the body.^[2]
• 1859 – a device pressing a gun carriage to its platform during the recoil.^[2]
• 1870 – a surgical instrument for compressing a nerve or artery; a tourniquet.^[2][3]
• 1874 – a machine for compressing air, an air compressor.^[2][3]
• 1881 – a device for squeezing objects under the microscope.^[2]
• 1920 – the operator of a compressing machine.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A machine, such as a pump, that compresses air or another gas, often to power other machinery: The mechanic hooked the tyre up to the compressor.^[8][5][2]
2. The part of a gas turbine or jet engine that compresses air before it enters the combustion chambers.^[8]
3. A muscle that compresses a part of the body.^[8][5][2]
4. A surgical instrument for pressing on a part of the body, such as an artery.^[8][2]
5. An electronic device that reduces the range of loudness in a signal.^[8][5]
6. (nautical) A device for checking or stopping a running cable or chain.^[5][2]

Word family

• compander

Related words

• pressure
• compress
• compression
• press
• expander

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins