compaction

English

Etymology

From Old French compaction, from Latin compactionem, from compingere.

Noun

compaction (countable and uncountable, plural compactions)

1. The process of compacting something, or something that has been compacted.
   • 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate 2010, p. 480:

     At Smithfield Frith is being shovelled up, his youth, his grace, his learning and his beauty: a compaction of mud, grease, charred bone.