Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The rubbing or kneading of parts of the body especially to aid circulation, relax the muscles, or provide sensual stimulation.
  • noun An act or instance of such rubbing or kneading.
  • transitive verb To give a massage to.
  • transitive verb To treat by means of a massage.
  • transitive verb To coddle or cajole.
  • transitive verb To manipulate (data, for example).

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In medicine, to treat by the process called massage.
  • noun An obsolete form of message.
  • noun In therapeutics, the act or art of applying intermittent pressure and strain to the muscles and other accessible tissues of the patient.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A rubbing or kneading of the body, especially when performed as a hygienic or remedial measure.
  • transitive verb (Med.) To treat by means of massage; to rub or knead.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The action of rubbing, kneading or hitting someone's body, to help the person relax, prepare for muscular action (as in contact sports) or to relieve aches.
  • verb transitive To rub and knead (someone's body or a part of a body), to perform a massage on (somebody).
  • verb transitive To manipulate (data, a document etc.) to make it more presentable or more convenient to work with.
  • verb transitive To falsify (data or accounts).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb manually manipulate (someone's body), usually for medicinal or relaxation purposes
  • noun kneading and rubbing parts of the body to increase circulation and promote relaxation
  • verb give a massage to

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from masser, to massage, from Arabic masaḥa, to stroke, anoint; see mšḥ in Semitic roots or massa, to touch; see mšš in Semitic roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French massage, from masser ("to massage") + -age.

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