I was hoping someone more expert than me was going to revert on Stew's query, but here goes:
I personally wouldn't describe it as an inverted compressor, because a compressor is typically acting on both the peaks and troughs of a signal, but more an inverted limiter (which I accept is a type of compressor); whereas a limiter cuts the signal above a certain threshold to limit peaks (e.g to protect your speakers and / or stop you sounding like a Richard mid-set if your hand decides to take on a life of its own), a noise gate stops any signal getting through until it reaches a certain threshold level e.g. to prevent annoying white and / or dirt-pedal noise.