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Constriction or contraction of some natural passage, as in constipation from inflammation.

Money or other valuable thing given to evidence a contract; a pledge or earnest.

, or treating of various topics; as, an article in the Constitution. Hence: A clause in a contract, system of regulations, treaty, or the like; a term, condition, or stipulation in a contract; a concise statement; as, articles of agreement.

A contraction of art thou. [Obs.] Chaucer.

A shareholder of the Assiento company; one of the parties to the Assiento contract. Bancroft.

A contract or convention between Spain and other powers for furnishing negro slaves for the Spanish dominions in America, esp. the contract made with Great Britain in 1713.

An action to recover damages for a breach or nonperformance of a contract or promise, express or implied, oral or in writing not under seal. Common or indebitatus assumpsit is brought for the most part on an implied promise. Special assumpsit is founded on an express promise or undertaking. Wharton.…

Insurance; a contract for the payment of a sum on occasion of a certain event, as loss or death.

A disease, characterized by difficulty of breathing (due to a spasmodic contraction of the bronchi), recurring at intervals, accompanied with a wheezing sound, a sense of constriction in the chest, a cough, and expectoration.

To bind up; to confine; to constrict; to contract. The solid parts were to be relaxed or astricted. Arbuthnot.

A contraction of parts by applications; the action of an astringent substance on the animal economy. Dunglison.

To bind fast; to constrict; to contract; to cause parts to draw together; to compress. Which contraction . . . astringeth the moistuBacon.

The quality of being astringent; the power of contracting the parts of the body; that quality in medicines or other substances which causes contraction of the organic textures; as, the astringency of tannin.

Drawing together the tissues; binding; contracting; -- opposed to laxative; as, astringent medicines; a butter and astringent taste; astringent fruit.

A weakening or cessation of the contractile power of the heart.

Want of tone; weakness of the system, or of any organ, especially of such as are contractile.

e thin, slender, or fine; to grow less; to lessen. The attention attenuates as its sphere contracts. Coleridge.

To deliver, as goods in trust, for some special object or purpose, upon a contract, expressed or implied, that the trust shall be faithfully executed on the part of the bailee, or person intrusted; as, to bail cloth to a tailor to be made into a garment; to bail goods to a carrier. Blackstone. Kent.…

ery of goods or money by one person to another in trust, for some special purpose, upon a contract, expressed or implied, that the trust shall be faithfully executed. Blackstone.

To contract, as a sail, into a narrower compass; as, to balance the boom mainsail. Balanced valve. See Balance valve, under Balance, n.