[ad. L. compactus, pa. pple. of comping-ĕre to put together closely, f. com- + pang-ĕre (root pag-) to make fast, fasten. Littré has the corresponding F. compacte of 16th c.]
I. pa. pple. Obs. or arch.
1. Compacted, knit, firmly put together.
1430. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. v. So well … compact by measure.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531), 221. In whome all the body is compact and knyt by euery ioynt.
1530. Palsgr., 490/2. This nagge is well compacte: ce courtoult est bien troussé.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, I. 30. So excellently compact, and wrought together with Ligamentes.
1636. Blunt, Voy. Levant, 108. A farre greater Empire … and better compact.
1685. Baxter, Paraphr. N. T., 2 Cor. xiii. 11. Be compact together in holy Union.
b. Packed closely together.
1655. W. F., Meteors, II. 21. When … vapors are gathered together … being very neere compact, and as it were hard tempered together.
1704. Swift, T. Tub (1747), Introd. 26. In which Position, if the Audience be well compact, every one carries Home a Share, and little or nothing is lost.
2. Made up by combination of parts; framed, composed of.
1531. Elyot, Gov., I. xxii. Honour to god … is compacte of these thre thinges, feare, loue, and reuerence.
1547. Boorde, Brev. Health, § 182. Man … is compacke and made of xv substances.
1551. T. Wilson, Logike, 6. Man himselfe is compact of bodie and minde.
1586. Cogan, Haven Health, cxciv. (1636), 176. Milke … is compact or made of three severall substances.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., II. vii. 5. If he compact of iarres, grow Musicall.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 635. A wandring Fire Compact of unctuous vapor.
1704. Swift, Operat. Spirit, Wks. 1768, I. 223. The style compact of insignificant words, incoherences, and repetitions.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Poems, II. 221. Napoleon … that great word, Compact of human breath in hate and dread And exultation.
1883. Stevenson, Silverado Sq. (1886), 5. Towns compact, in about equal proportions, of … wooden houses and great … trees.
II. adj.
1. Closely packed or knit together. a. Having the component particles closely and firmly combined; dense, solid, firm; esp. of the texture or composition of material substances.
Compact tissue: the dense ivory-like outer layer of a bone (Syd. Soc. Lex.). Compact fracture (of minerals): see quot. 1816. Compact structure (of rocks): see quot. 1885.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. xliv. (1495), 567. Yren is drye and colde and full harde and compacte.
1555. Fardle Facions, I. ii. 29. The matier more compacte.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 10. Amongst al Mettals there is none more solide more compact then this is.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 299. Exercise … maketh the Substance of the Body more Solid and Compact.
1708. Brit. Apollo, No. 2. 2/1. Tho’ Hail be a more compact congealation than Snow.
1759. Robertson, Hist. Scot., I. II. 93. A body so firm and compact as the Scots, easily resisted the impression of the cavalry.
1816. R. Jameson, Char. Min. (1817), 234. The internal surfaces … produced by splitting it are … continuous, when the fracture is said to be compact.
1831. R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 11. The compact tissue [of bones].
1854. Ronalds & Richardson, Chem. Technol., I. 25. A very dense blackish-brown compact peat.
1885. A. Geikie, Text-bk. Geol., II. ii. § 4 (ed. 2), 96. Cryptoclastic or compact, where the grains are too minute to reveal to the naked eye the truly fragmental character of the rock.
b. Having the parts so arranged that the whole lies within relatively small compass, without straggling portions or members; neatly and tightly packed or arranged; not sprawling, scattered, or diffuse. So compact order or arrangement.
In Entom. applied to organs or bodies in which the parts are closely connected together, without incisions.
1642. Milton, Apol. Smect. (1851), 268. How hazardous … it were in skirmish to change the compact order.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., Wks. V. 351. Paris is compact; she has an enormous strength … and this strength is collected and condensed within a narrow compass.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxviii. Conducted from them [enemies] in the compactest order.
1824. Stuart, Steam-Eng., 164. Trevithick’s Engine is the most compact.
1845. Florist’s Jrnl., 109. Beautifully neat and compact plants.
1866. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. xxvii. 651. The estate of the manor was generally compact…. The lands of the small proprietors were, however, generally very scattered.
1882. ‘Mark Twain,’ Stolen White Elephant, 9. He was a man of middle size and compact frame.
Mod. Strap these overcoats and rugs into one compact parcel. Compact lobelias for bedding, and the straggling sort for window-boxes.
2. transf. and fig.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., IV. viii. 374. The Humane Nature … hath a more fixed, strong, and compact memory of things past than the Brutes have.
1845. S. Austin, Ranke’s Hist. Ref., II. 397. The first formation of a compact evangelical party.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Napoleon, Wks. (Bohn) I. 369. A man … compact, instant, selfish, prudent.
1863. J. Brown, Horæ Subs. (ed. 3), 5. I got my fixed compact idea of him.
1869. A. W. Haddan, Apost. Success., viii. (1879), 235. The compacter organization, and more determined party effort.
1878. Morley, Carlyle, Crit. Misc. Ser. I. 192 Detached passages cannot counterbalance the effect of a whole, compact body of teaching.
Mod. A compact majority.
b. Of language or style: Condensed, terse, pithy, close; not diffuse. Also said of the writer.
1576. Fleming, Panop. Epist., 255. A methode in writing and speaking compact in brevitie.
1711. H. Felton, Dissert. Classics (J.). Where a foreign tongue is elegant, expressive, close and compact.
1780. Cowper, Table-t., 647. Pope … In verse well-disciplined, complete, compact.
1790. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary (1843), V. 116. The command of his [Windham’s] language and fluency of his delivery, joined to the compact style of his reasoning and conciseness of his arguments, were all that could answer my expectations.
1872. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 139. The best of Voltaire’s tragedies, abounding in a just vehemence, compact, full of feeling.
