Meaning

noun a cloth pad or dressing (with or without medication) applied firmly to some part of the body (to relieve discomfort or reduce fever)

verb make more compact by or as if by pressing

verb squeeze or press together

originFrom Middle French compresse, from compresse (“to compress”), from Late Latin compressare (“to press hard/together”), from Latin compressus, the past participle of comprimō (“to compress”), itself from com- (“together”) + premō (“press”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0