verb /ɹɪˈdjuːs,ɹɪˈduːs/
a) To bring down the size, quantity, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower, to impair.
Neither [Jones] nor I (in 1966) could conceive of reducing our "science" to the ultimate absurdity of reading Finnish newspapers almost a century and a half old in order to establish "priority."
b) To lose weight.
Wikipedia foundation.