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Having no force, effect, or efficacy; void; null; as, an invalid contract or agreement.

inveteracy of prejudice or of error. An inveteracy of evil habits that will prompt him to contract more. A. Tucker.

The contractile membrane perforated by the pupil, and forming the colored portion of the eye. See Eye.

ating influence of its nerve fibers, the response being indicated by a change of form, or contraction; contractility.

To produce irritation in; to stimulate; to cause to contract. See Irritation, n., 2.

n its nerve is affected by some external body; esp., the act of exciting muscle fibers to contraction, by artificial stimulation; as, the irritation of a motor nerve by electricity; also, the condition of a muscle and nerve, under such stimulation.

A contraction of is it.

To do or cause to be done by separate portions or lots; to sublet (work); as, to job a contract.

of the value of eight dollars, named from the figure of King John which it bears;- often contracted into joe; as, a joe, or a half joe.

ed by a blow or sudden strain upon the patellar tendon of the knee, which causes a sudden contraction of the quadriceps muscle; one of the so-called tendon reflexes. -- Knee joint. See in the Vocabulary. -- Knee timber, timber with knees or angles in it. -- Knee tribute, or Knee worship, tribute paid by kneeling; wo…

ed by a blow or sudden strain upon the patellar tendon of the knee, which causes a sudden contraction of the quadriceps muscle.

ereign, who has cognizance of transgressions within the royal household and verge, and of contracts made there, a member of the household being one of the parties. Wharton.

To draw together; to contract into wrinkles. knits his brow and shows an angry eye. Shak.

Modified, as a vowel, by contraction of the lip opening, as oo (food), o (old), etc., and as eu and u in French, and ö, ü in German. See Guide to Pronunciation,

The modification of an articulation by contraction of the lip opening.

To modify by contraction of the lip opening.

d impotent conclusion! Shak. Lame duck (stock Exchange), a person who can not fulfill his contracts. [Cant]

A spasmodic state of the glottis, giving rise to contraction or closure of the opening.

contains a long, slender, often barbed, hollow thread coiled up within it. When the cell contracts the thread is quickly ejected, being at the same time turned inside out. The thread is able to penetrate the flesh of various small, soft-bodied animals, and carries a subtle poison by which they are speedily paralyzed a…

of Last, to endure, contracted from lasteth. [Obs.] Chaucer.