| • |
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. |
| • |
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. |
| • |
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. |
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A marriage contract. |
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