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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.

Together. [Obs.] Spenser. He and Aufidius can no more atone Than violentest contrariety. Shak.

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

deavor; an undertaking; an attack, or an effort to gain a point; esp. an unsuccessful, as contrasted with a successful, effort. By his blindness maimed for high attempts. Milton. Attempt to commit a crime (Law), such an intentional preparatory act as will apparently result, if not extrinsically hindered, in a crime whi…

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

n; to consider as belonging (to). We attribute nothing to God that hath any repugnancy or contradiction in it. Abp. Tillotson. The merit of service is seldom attributed to the true and exact performer. Shak.

en in place; -- said of rocks having a broken or brecciated structure due to crushing, in contrast to those of brecciated materials brought from a distance.

Passing through all its stages on one host, as certain parasitic fungi; -- contrasted with heterocious.

ert his ire." Milton. When atheists and profane persons do hear of so many discordant and contrary opinions in religion, it doth avert them from the church. Bacon. Till ardent prayer averts the public woe. Prior.

In a contrary or reverse manner, way, or direction; contrarily; as, to read backwards. We might have . . . beat them backward home. Shak.

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.

To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition. [Obs.] In strifeful terms with him to balk. Spenser.

An offense against purity of style or language; any form of speech contrary to the pure idioms of a particular language. See Solecism. The Greeks were the first that branded a foreign term in any of their writers with the odious name of barbarism. G. Campbell.

Contrary to the pure idioms of a language. A barbarous expression G. Campbell.