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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



1,049 words match “CONTRA”

CONSTRICT v.
To draw together; to render narrower or smaller; to bind; to cramp; to contract or ause to shrink. Such things as constrict the fibers. Arbuthnot. Membranous organs inclosing a cavity which their contraction constrict. Todd & Bowman.
CONSTRICTED a. 2 definitions
Drawn together; bound; contracted; cramped.
CONSTRICTOR n. 2 definitions
That which constricts, draws together, or contracts.
CONSTRINGE v.
To dawn together; to contract; to force to contract itself; to constrict; to cause to shrink. [R.] Strong liquors . . . intoxicate, constringe, harden the fibers, and coagulate the fluids. Arbuthnot.
CONSTRINGENT a.
Having the quality of contracting, binding, or compressing. Thomson.
CONTENTIOUS a.
risdiction (Eng. Eccl. Law), jurisdiction over matters in controversy between parties, in contradistinction to voluntary jurisdiction, or that exercised upon matters not opposed or controverted.
CONTEXT v.
closely. [Obs.] Feltham. The whole world's frame, which is contexted only by commerce and contracts. R. Junius.
CONTINENTAL a.
as, Continental money. The army before Boston was designated as the Continental army, in contradistinction to that under General Gage, which was called the "Ministerial army." W. Irving. Continental Congress. See under Congress. -- Continental system (Hist.), the blockade of Great Britain ordered by Napoleon by the d…
CONTROVERSY n.
Contention; dispute; debate; discussion; agitation of contrary opinions. This left no room for controversy about the title. Locke. A dispute is commonly oral, and a controversy in writing. Johnson.
CONVENTION n.
An agreement or contract less formal than, or preliminary to, a traety; an informal compact, as between commanders of armies in respect to suspension of hostilities, or between states; also, a formal agreement between governments or sovereign powers; as, a postal convetion between two governments. This convention, I th…
CONVENTIONARY a.
Acting under contract; settled by express agreement; as, conventionary tenants. [Obs.] R. Carew.
CONVENTIONIST n.
One who enters into a convention, covenant, or contract.
CONVERSION n.
e terms of a proposition, as by putting the subject in the place of the predicate, or the contrary.
CONVULSE v.
To contract violently and irregulary, as the muscular parts of an animal body; to shake with irregular spasms, as in excessive laughter, or in agony from grief or pain. With emotions which checked his voice and convulsed his powerful frame. Macaulay.
CONVULSION n.
An unnatural, violent, and unvoluntary contraction of the muscular parts of an animal body.
CORONIS n.
In Greek grammar, a sign ['] sometimes placed over a contracted syllable. W. W. Goodwin.
CORPUSCLE n.
slightly flattened, nucleated cells, mainly protoplasmic in composition, and possessed of contractile power. In man, the average size is about 1/2500 of an inch, and they are present in blood in much smaller numbers than the red corpuscles.
CORRUGANT a.
Having the power of contracting into wrinkles. Johnson.
CORRUGATE a. 2 definitions
Wrinkled; crumpled; furrowed; contracted into ridges and furrows.
CORRUGATION n.
The act corrugating; contraction into wrinkles or alternate ridges and grooves.
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