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The point of attachment or end of a muscle which is fixed during contraction; -- in contradistinction to insertion. Origin of coördinate axes (Math.), the point where the axes intersect. See Note under Ordinate.

are, however, results of the same force. Osmose may be regarded as a form of molecular attraction, allied to that of adhesion.

Promoting uterine contractions, or parturition. -- n.

A retraction; esp., a formal retraction. Sandys.

Of or pertaining to a palinode, or retraction. J. Q. Adams.

or ancestors; parents or ancestors considered with respect to their rank or character; extraction; birth; as, a man of noble parentage. "Wilt thou deny thy parentage" Shak. Though men esteem thee low of parentage. Milton.

To separate by a process of extraction, elimination, or secretion; as, to part gold from silver. The liver minds his own affair, . . . And parts and strains the vital juices. Prior.

ften having a spherulitic concretionary structure due to the curved cracks produced by contraction in cooling. See Illust. under Perlitic.

A vehicle, as a traction engine, having such pedrails.

sually marked by points or commas placed at regular intervals, as in numeration, in the extraction of roots, and in circulating decimals.

Peristaltic contraction or action.

wave motion of the intestines and other similar structures, produced by the successive contraction of the muscular fibers of their walls, forcing their contents onwards; as, peristaltic movement. -- Per`i*stal"tic*al*ly, adv.

quality or state of being perplexed or puzzled; complication; intricacy; entanglement; distraction of mind through doubt or difficulty; embarrassment; bewilderment; doubt. By their own perplexities involved, They ravel more. Milton.

ich causes its regular motion; as, the perturbations of the planets are caused by their attraction on each other. Newcomb.

A contraction of Photograph. [Colloq.]

to a contrast of properties corresponding to a contrast of positions, as, for example, attraction and repulsion in the opposite parts of a magnet, the dissimilar phenomena corresponding to the different sides of a polarized ray of light, etc.

her physical or moral: potency; might; as, a man of great power; the power of capillary attraction; money gives power. "One next himself in power, and next in crime." Milton.

f all that is not absolutely relative to the purpose; as, precisive censure; precisive abstraction. I. Watts.

er of its exercise. The two faculties that are the prerogative of man -- the powers of abstraction and imagination. I. Taylor. An unconstitutional exercise of his prerogative. Macaulay.

rve fibers, stimulation of which excites the vasomotor center, thus causing a stronger contraction of the arteries and consequently an increase of the arterial blood pressure; -- opposed to depressor. Landois & Stirling.