1. A UNIX compression utility that creates files with the *.Z extensin. A copyrighted program, compress cannot be freely redistributed, so many UNIX users prefer to use the Open Software Foundation's gunzip, which creates compressed files with the *.gz extension. From QUECID

2. To make a file smaller by applying a compression algorithm, usually for the purpose of conserving space or speeding up file transfers. This can also refer to the Unix command to compress a file which appends '.Z' to the filename, or to the free GNU enhanced version, gzip. From KADOWKEV