compound

noun

1. An enclosure within which workers, prisoners, or soldiers are confined.
2. An enclosure for secure storage.

   “A separate building on the west side will house a standby powerhouse and a workshop, and there will be an unroofed compound for compressed air cylinders and water tanks.”

   “A total of 75 cycle spaces are being installed at three Greater Anglia stations - [...]. And a secure compound for bicycles is being built at Cambridge North.”

3. A group of buildings situated close together, e.g. for a school or block of offices.

   “Shepard: What kind of proof do you have that the major is dangerous? Transmission: Three days ago, we sent two Alliance representatives to meet with him at his compound. They have disappeared. We believe Kyle and his followers killed them. Transmission: That compound is a cult, Shepard. They call him 'Father Kyle' now. He's set himself up as some kind of religious leader.”

   “Some 20 supporters managed to get inside the court compounds. About half an hour after the verdict was delivered, they gathered near the Constitutional Court entrance and shouted: "On March 24, use your pen to oust the dictator."”

4. (Philippines, broadly)A group of buildings where members of the same extended family live together.
5. Anything made by combining several things.
6. A substance formed by chemical bonding of two or more elements in definite proportions by weight.
7. (dated)A substance made from any combination of ingredients.

   “A compound of spurge, cardamom, cinnamon of Mecca, pellitory, ginger, nettle seed is an Arab specific for sexual weakness.”

8. A legal procedure whereby a criminal or delinquent avoids prosecution in a court in exchange for his payment to the authorities of a financial penalty or fine.
9. A lexeme that consists of more than one stem.

   “Compositionally there is no great distinction between cell wall and cell surface, both are relatively transparent compounds, but both parts of the cell are of high significance in Biology due to their central role in cell functioning.”

10. A lexeme that consists of more than one stem or affix, e.g. "bookshop", "high school" or "non-standard".

    “In the majority of the compounds of non- the hyphen is usually retained; but it is commonly omitted in the case of a few, such as nonconformist, nonentity, nonsense, in which the etymology has been to some extent lost sight of.”

11. A compound locomotive, a steam locomotive with both high-pressure and low-pressure cylinders.

    “From a dead stand, with regulator full open and the lever at about 50 per cent we got up to about 60 m.p.h. by the top of the bank. The big compound was making plenty of noise - but what musical and wonderful noise!”

12. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Ellipsis of compound exercise.

adj

1. (not-comparable)Composed of elements; not simple.

   “a compound word”

   “Compound substances are made up of two or more simple substances.”

2. (not-comparable)Dealing with numbers of various denominations of quantity, or with processes more complex than the simple process.

   “compound addition”

   “compound proportion”

3. (not-comparable)An octave higher than originally (i.e. a compound major second is equivalent to a major ninth).

verb

1. (transitive)To form (a resulting mixture) by combining different elements, ingredients, or parts; to mingle with something else.

   “to compound a medicine”

   “Only compound me with forgotten dust.”

   “We have the power of altering[…] and compounding those images[…] into all the varieties of picture.”

   “incapacitating him from successfully compounding a tale of this sort”

   “In eighteenth century France, many aphrodisiac dishes and pastries were compounded with chocolate.”

2. (transitive)To settle by agreeing on less than the claim, or on different terms than those stipulated.

   “to compound a debt”

3. (transitive)To settle amicably; to adjust by agreement.

   “I pray, my lords, let me compound this strife.”

   “No! no—if Charles has done nothing false or mean, I shall compound for his extravagance”

4. (intransitive)To come to terms of agreement; to settle by a compromise.

   “to compound with someone / for something”

   “Here's a fellow will help you to-morrow; […] compound with him by the year.”

   “They were at last glad to compound for his bare commitment to the Tower.”

   “[Cornwall] compounded to furnish ten oxen after Michaelmas for thirty pounds.”

   “Compound for sins they are inclined to / By damning those they have no mind to.”

5. (obsolete, transitive)To compose; to constitute.

   “his pomp and all what state compounds”

6. (intransitive)To increase in value with interest, where the interest is earned on both the principal sum and prior earned interest.
7. (transitive)To worsen a situation.

   “[…] This latest example of nationalistic self-interest compounded anger across the EU over Trump’s travel ban, imposed last month without consultation or scientific justification.”

8. (intransitive)Of a horse: to fail to maintain speed.

   “At the hill, the Warrior must have been at least ten lengths in front of Wild Dayrell; but he compounded about 200 yards on the T. Y. C. side of the Red House.”