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"
Source: WordNet® 2.0

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}.


Source: The Jargon File