1. act of contracting; spasm; shortening, shrinking; shortened form of a word or phrase that contains an apostrophe in place of missing letters (i.e. she's). contraction\con*trac"tion\ , n. [l. contractio: cf. f. contraction.].
2. 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.
3. (math.) the process of shortening an operation.
4. 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.
5. something contracted or abbreviated, as a word or phrase; -- as, plenipo for plenipotentiary; crim. con. for criminal conversation, etc.
6. (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.
7. a marriage contract. [obs.]contraction n.
8. (physiology) a shortening or tensing of a part or organ (especially of a muscle or muscle fiber) [syn: muscular contraction ].
9. the process or result of becoming smaller or pressed together: "the contraction of a gas on cooling" [syn: compression, condensation].
10. 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".
11. 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.
12. The process of shortening an operation.
13. 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.
14. Something contracted or abbreviated, as a word or phrase; as, plenipo for plenipotentiary; crim. con. for criminal conversation, etc.
15. 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.
16. A marriage contract. the act of decreasing in size or volume or quantity or scope a shortening or tensing of a part or organ 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'".
17. 1. When a woman who is about to give birth has contractions, she experiences a very strong, painful tightening of the muscles of her womb.
18. A contraction is a shortened form of a word or words. `It's' should be used only as a contraction for `it is'. see also:
contract.
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