Definition of contraction

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Contraction (n.) Something contracted or abbreviated, as a word or phrase; -- as, plenipo for plenipotentiary; crim. con. for criminal conversation, etc..

Lern More About Contraction

Oxytocic :: Oxytocic (a.) Promoting uterine contractions, or parturition..
Stenostome :: Stenosis (n.) A narrowing of the opening or hollow of any passage, tube, or orifice; as, stenosis of the pylorus. It differs from stricture in being applied especially to diffused rather than localized contractions, and in always indicating an origin organic and not spasmodic..
Labial :: Labial (a.) Modified, as a vowel, by contraction of the lip opening, as / (f/d), / (/ld), etc., and as eu and u in French, and o, u in German. See Guide to Pronunciation, // 11, 178..
Myodynamics :: Myodynamics (n.) The department of physiology which deals with the principles of muscular contraction; the exercise of muscular force or contraction.
Excito-motory :: Excito-motory (a.) Exciting motion; -- said of that portion of the nervous system concerned in reflex actions, by which impressions are transmitted to a nerve center and then reflected back so as to produce muscular contraction without sensation or volition..
Abbreviate :: Abbreviate (v. t.) To make briefer; to shorten; to abridge; to reduce by contraction or omission, especially of words written or spoken..
Apostrophe :: Apostrophe (n.) The contraction of a word by the omission of a letter or letters, which omission is marked by the character ['] placed where the letter or letters would have been; as, call'd for called..
Irritation :: Irritation (n.) The act of exciting, or the condition of being excited to action, by stimulation; -- as, the condition of an organ of sense, when its nerve is affected by some external body; esp., the act of exciting muscle fibers to contraction, by artificial stimulation; as, the irritation of a motor nerve by electricity; also, the condition of a muscle and nerve, under such stimulation..
Spasm :: Spasm (v. t.) An involuntary and unnatural contraction of one or more muscles or muscular fibers.
Vingtun :: Vingtun (n.) Contraction for Vingt et un.
Inertia :: Inertia (n.) Want of activity; sluggishness; -- said especially of the uterus, when, in labor, its contractions have nearly or wholly ceased..
Bivalve :: Bivalve (n.) A mollusk having a shell consisting of two lateral plates or valves joined together by an elastic ligament at the hinge, which is usually strengthened by prominences called teeth. The shell is closed by the contraction of two transverse muscles attached to the inner surface, as in the clam, -- or by one, as in the oyster. See Mollusca..
Astringency :: Astringency (n.) The quality of being astringent; the power of contracting the parts of the body; that quality in medicines or other substances which causes contraction of the organic textures; as, the astringency of tannin..
Myosis :: Myosis (n.) Long-continued contraction of the pupil of the eye.
Peristalsis :: Peristalsis (n.) Peristaltic contraction or action.
Ma''am :: Ma'am (n.) Madam; my lady; -- a colloquial contraction of madam often used in direct address, and sometimes as an appellation..
Can''t :: Can't () A colloquial contraction for can not.
Myograph :: Myograph (n.) An instrument for determining and recording the different phases, as the intensity, velocity, etc., of a muscular contraction..
Synallagmatic :: Synalepha (n.) A contraction of syllables by suppressing some vowel or diphthong at the end of a word, before another vowel or diphthong; as, th' army, for the army..
Hiccough :: Hiccough (n.) A modified respiratory movement; a spasmodic inspiration, consisting of a sudden contraction of the diaphragm, accompanied with closure of the glottis, so that further entrance of air is prevented, while the impulse of the column of air entering and striking upon the closed glottis produces a sound, or hiccough..
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