Hypertext Webster Gateway: "contraction"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Contraction \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.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

contraction
n 1: (physiology) a shortening or tensing of a part or organ
(especially of a muscle or muscle fiber) [syn: {muscular
contraction}]
2: the process or result of becoming smaller or pressed
together: "the contraction of a gas on cooling" [syn: {compression},
{condensation}]
3: a word formed from two or more words by omitting or
combining some sounds: "won't" from "will not"; "o'clock"
from "of the clock"


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