Search the Dictionary

Preceding the systole or contraction of the heart; as, the presystolic friction sound.

The act of lengthening in space or in time; extension; protraction. Bacon.

absolute alcohol and 53.71 parts of water," the apparent excess of water being due to contraction of the liquids on mixture. In England proof spirit is defined by Act 58, George III., to be such as shall at a temperature of 51º Fahrenheit weigh exactly the second, third, and fourth proof spirits respectively. -- Proo…

One who, or that which, protracts, or causes protraction.

evince, ascertain, or verify, as the correctness of any operation or result; thus, in subtraction, if the difference between two numbers, added to the lesser number, makes a sum equal to the greater, the correctness of the subtraction is proved.

t*ly, adv. The eye of the vain and prurient is darting from object to object of illicit attraction. I. Taylor.

Swimming by the expansion and contraction, or lunglike movement, of the body, or of the disk, as do the medusæ.

The act of driving forward; propulsion; -- opposed to Ant: suction or Ant: traction. [R.]

A woman eminent in power or attractions; the highest of her kind; as, a queen in society; -- also used figuratively of cities, countries, etc. " This queen of cities." " Albion, queen of isles." Cowper.

of being queenly; the; characteristic of a queen; stateliness; eminence among women in attractions or power.

eclaration that contradicts a former one; that which is thus asserted in contradiction; retraction. The poor man was imprisoned for this discovery, and forced to make a public recantation. Bp. Stillingfleet.

ibable. [Written also referrible.] It is a question among philosophers, whether all the attractions which obtain between bodies are referable to one general cause. W. Nicholson.

The quantity or sum that is left after subtraction, or after any deduction.

l. The blessed Jesus . . . did sacramentally rescind the impure relics of Adam and the contraction of evil customs. Jer. Taylor.

CApable of retraction; capable of being drawn back or up; as, the claws of a cat are retractile.

Serving to retract; of the nature of a retraction. -- Re*tract"ive*ly, adv.

Fig. : The power of persuasion or attraction; that which allures or charms. Sweet, silent rhetoric of persuading eyes. Daniel.

A sense of chilliness, with contraction of the skin; a convulsive shuddering or tremor, as in the chill preceeding a fever. Rigor caloris ( Etym: [L., rigor of heat] (Physiol.), a form of rigor mortis induced by heat, as when the muscle of a mammal is heated to about 50ºC. -- Rigor mortis ( Etym: [L. , rigor of death]…

Modified, as a vowel, by contraction of the lip opening, making the opening more or less round in shape; rounded; labialized; labial. See Guide to Pronunciation, § 11.

Modified by contraction of the lip opening; labialized; labial. See Guide to Pronunciation, § 11.