Obs. [subst. use of COMPACT ppl. a.1] a. A compacted body, structure. b. A combination, composition. c. Conformation, build. d. Compact state, compaction.
1601. Cornwallyes, Ess., xvii. This compact of the Elements must suffer a dissolution.
1644. Milton, Educ., Wks. (1847), 100/1. Having … passed the principles of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and geography, with a general compact of Physics, they may descend in Mathematics.
1646. Buck, Rich. III., 148. He was of a mean or low compact, but without disproportion and unevenness.
1817. Keatinge, Trav., I. 161. Their remarkably sedentary habits admitted of this close compact of society.
