compressor: Meaning and Definition of

com•pres•sor

1. a person or thing that compresses.
2. a muscle that compresses some part of the body.
3. an instrument for compressing a part of the body.
4. a pump or other machine for reducing volume and increasing pressure of gases in order to condense the gases, drive pneumatically powered machinery, etc.
5. a transducer that produces an output with a range of voltages whose ratio is smaller than that of the range of the input signal. Cf. expander (def. 2).