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Definitions for: Contraction
[n] (physiology) a shortening or tensing of a part or organ (especially of a muscle or muscle fiber)
[n] a word formed from two or more words by omitting or combining some sounds; "`won't' is a contraction of `will not'"; "`o'clock' is a contraction of `of the clock'"
[n] the process or result of becoming smaller or pressed together; "the contraction of a gas on cooling"
Webster (1913) Definition: Con*trac"tion, n. [L. contractio: cf. F.
contraction.]
1. The act or process of contracting, shortening, or
shrinking; the state of being contracted; as, contraction
of the heart, of the pupil of the eye, or of a tendion;
the contraction produced by cold.
2. (Math.) The process of shortening an operation.
3. The act of incurring or becoming subject to, as
liabilities, obligation, debts, etc.; the process of
becoming subject to; as, the contraction of a disease.
4. Something contracted or abbreviated, as a word or phrase;
-- as, plenipo for plenipotentiary; crim. con. for
criminal conversation, etc.
5. (Gram.) The shortening of a word, or of two words, by the
omission of a letter or letters, or by reducing two or
more vowels or syllables to one; as, ne'er for never;
can't for can not; don't for do not; it's for it is.
6. A marriage contract. [Obs.] --Shak.
Synonyms: compression, condensation, muscular contraction
See Also: Braxton-Hicks contraction, coarctation, constriction, contracture, false labor, shortening, shrinkage, shrinking, tetanus, uterine contraction, vaginismus, word
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