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l (Pron.), a vowel which is pronounced with a diminished aperture of the lips, or with contraction of the cavity of the mouth. -- Close to the wind (Naut.), directed as nearly to the point from which the wind blows as it is possible to sail; closehauled; -- said of a vessel.

state of growing together, as similar parts; the act of uniting by natural affinity or attraction; the state of being united; union; concretion.

That from of attraction by which the particles of a body are united throughout the mass, whether like or unlike; -- distinguished from adhesion, which unites bodies by their adjacent surfaces. Solids and fluids differ in the degree of cohesion, which, being increased, turns a fluid into a solid. Arbuthnot.…

Holding the particles of a homogeneous body together; as, cohesive attraction; producing cohesion; as, a cohesive force.

on; to clash; as, the vessels collided; their interests collided. Across this space the attraction urges them. They collide, they recoil, they oscillate. Tyndall. No longer rocking and swaying, but clashing and colliding. Carlyle.

e. This structure is characteristic of certain igneous rocks, as basalt, and is due to contraction in cooling.

To unite by affinity or natural attraction; as, two substances, which will not combine of themselves, may be made to combine by the intervention of a third.

r magnet placed near the compass on iron vessels to neutralize the effect of the ship's attraction on the needle.

substances are made up of two or more simple substances. I. Watts. Compound addition, substraction, multiplication, division (Arith.), the addition, substraction, etc., of compound numbers. -- Compound crystal (Crystallog.), a twin crystal, or one seeming to be made up of two or more crystals combined according to reg…

A system of electric traction, esp. for light railways, in which the actuating current passes along a wire or rail laid in an underground conduit, from which the current is "picked up" by a plow or other device fixed to the car or electric locomotive. Hence Conduit railway.

ct or process of passing, or causing to pass, from a fluid to a solid state, as by the abstraction of heat; the act or process of freezing.

s as constrict the fibers. Arbuthnot. Membranous organs inclosing a cavity which their contraction constrict. Todd & Bowman.

Capable of contraction. Small air bladders distable and contractible. Arbuthnot.

A state of permanent rigidity or contraction of the muscles, generally of the flexor muscles.

An unnatural, violent, and unvoluntary contraction of the muscular parts of an animal body.

form or shape into wrinkles or folds, or alternate ridges and grooves, as by drawing, contraction, pressure, bending, or otherwise; to wrinkle; to purse up; as, to corrugate plates of iron; to corrugate the forehead. Corrugated iron, sheet iron bent into a series of alternate ridges and grooves in parallel lines, givi…

The act corrugating; contraction into wrinkles or alternate ridges and grooves.

A change of measures; alteration of conduct. Such countermarches and retractions as we do not willingly impute to wisdom. T. Burnet.

To invite by attractions; to allure; to attract. A well-worn pathway courted us To one green wicket in a privet hedge. Tennyson.

A contraction of cousin. Shak.