CONTRACTION • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Contraction

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/kəntrˈækʃən/ Listen

noun

Contraction n.

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 tendon; the contraction produced by cold.

(Math.) The process of shortening an operation.

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.

Something contracted or abbreviated, as a word or phrase; as, plenipo for plenipotentiary; crim. con. for criminal conversation, etc.

(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.

A marriage contract. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Contraction'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Contraction" Quotes from Famous Books

... say, first of all, that for this reason I am now sitting here, because my body is composed of bones and sinews and that the bones are hard, and have joints separate from each other, but that the sinews, being capable of tension and contraction, cover the bones, together with the flesh and skin which contain them. The bones, therefore, being suspended in their sockets, the nerves, relaxing and tightening, enable me to bend my limbs as I now do, and from this cause I sit here bent up. ...

— Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates • Plato

... this sort to a woman who has rejected you has a peculiar effect. The coquetry faded from her smile, and there was a perceptible contraction of the brows. Her eyes, which were looking into mine, shifted to the back of the groom. No, I shall never understand a woman. She should have been the most sympathetic woman in the world, yet she appeared to ...

— Arms and the Woman • Harold MacGrath

... mother's arms. Serge was deeply affected by the young girl's affection for him, when a trembling hand touched his arm. He turned round. Jeanne de Cernay was before him, pale and wan; her eyes sunken into her head like two black nails, and her lips tightened by a violent contraction. The Prince stood thunderstruck at the sight of her. He looked around him. Nobody was observing him. Pierre was beside Marechal, who was whispering those words which only true friends can find in the sad hours of life. Madame Desvarennes was holding Micheline ...

— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet

... of the family is founded on the continual contraction of the circle, originally comprising the whole tribe, within which marital intercourse between both sexes was general. By the continual exclusion, first of near, then of ever remoter relatives, including finally even those who were simply related legally, ...

— Women As Sex Vendors - or, Why Women Are Conservative (Being a View of the Economic - Status of Woman) • R. B. Tobias

... is generally the result of navicular disease or contraction of the feet. In the hind feet it is entirely caused by filthy stables, allowing the feet to stand in ...

— Pratt's Practical Pointers on the Care of Livestock and Poultry • Pratt Food Co.

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