massage

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The rubbing or kneading of parts of the body especially to aid circulation, relax the muscles, or provide sensual stimulation.
2. n. An act or instance of such rubbing or kneading.
3. v. To give a massage to.
4. v. To treat by means of a massage.
5. v. To coddle or cajole.
6. v. To manipulate (data, for example): Pollsters massaged the numbers to favor their candidate.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. An obsolete form of message.
2. n. In therapeutics, the act or art of applying intermittent pressure and strain to the muscles and other accessible tissues of the patient. The means employed are rubbing, kneading, and light pounding, combined ordinarily with more or less additional stimulation of the skin, as by friction and slapping. This manipulation furthers the removal of lymph from the parts, which is especially needful when the lymphatic flow is sluggish through lack of muscular exercise; it apparently quickens the blood-circulation through the part, and furnishes gentle vasomotor exercise; it acts possibly as a direct trophic stimulus to muscular and sustentacular tissues; by stretching ligamentous structures it maintains or increases suppleness; in the abdomen it stimulates and aids peristalsis; and as a general stimulation of sensory nerves it may affect favorably the nutrition of the central nervous system. It is represented in the customs of many primitive peoples, and in a developed form constitutes a valuable resource of modern scientific therapeutics.
3. In medicine, to treat by the process called massage.

Wiktionary

1. n. 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.
2. v. To rub and knead (someone's body or a part of a body), to perform a massage on (somebody).
3. v. To manipulate (data or a document) to make it more presentable or more convenient to work with.
4. v. To falsify (data or accounts).

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A rubbing or kneading of the body, especially when performed as a hygienic or remedial measure.
2. v. To treat by means of massage; to rub or knead.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. manually manipulate (someone's body), usually for medicinal or relaxation purposes
2. n. kneading and rubbing parts of the body to increase circulation and promote relaxation
3. v. give a massage to