From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
massage
n : kneading and rubbing parts of the body to increase
circulation and promote relaxation
v 1: manually manipulate (someone's body), usually for medicinal
or relaxation purposes; "She rubbed down her child with
a sponge" [syn: rub down, knead]
2: give a massage to; "She massaged his sore back"
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Massage \Mas"sage\, n. [F.]
A rubbing or kneading of the body, especially when performed
as a hygienic or remedial measure.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Massage \Mas"sage\, v. t. (Med.)
To treat by means of massage; to rub or knead; as, to massage
a patient with ointment.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 Sep 2003) [foldoc]:
massage
Vague term used to describe "smooth" transformations of a data
set into a different form, especially transformations that do
not lose information. Connotes less pain than munch or
crunch. "He wrote a program that massages X bitmap files
into GIF format." Compare slurp.
[Jargon File]
From Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) [jargon]:
massage
vt.
[common] Vague term used to describe `smooth' transformations of a
data set into a different form, esp. transformations that do not lose
information. Connotes less pain than munch or crunch. "He wrote a
program that massages X bitmap files into GIF format." Compare
slurp.