Con-træ'tion, n.
n. [Lat. contractio, Fr. contraction, Sp. contraccion, It. contrazione, Pr. contraccio.]
Sense 1. The act of contracting, drawing together, or shrinking; the act of shortening, narrowing, or lessening, extent or dimensions.
Unarmed, they might Have easily, as spirits, evaded swift By quick contraction or remove. Milton.
Sense 2. The state of being contracted.
Oil of vitriol will throw the stomach into involuntary contractions. Arbuthnot.
Sense 3. (Math.) The process of shortening any operation.
Sense 4. Any thing in a state of abbreviation or contraction; as, a writing full of contractions.
Sense 5. (Gram.) The shortening of a word, by the uniting of two concurrent vowels, or, less precisely, by the omission of a vowel or syllable.
Sense 6. A marriage contract. [Obs.]
Such an act . . . makes marriage vows As false as dicer's oaths; O, such a deed As from the body of contraction plucks The very soul. Shak.