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The tendency of a mass of matter toward a center of attraction; esp., the tendency of a body toward the center of the earth; terrestrial gravitation.

A car with a grip to clutch a traction cable.

. A contraction of have not or has not; as, I hain't, he hain't, we hain't. [Colloq. or illiterate speech.] [Written also han't.]

3d pers. sing. pres. of Hold, contraction for holdeth. [Obs.] Chaucer.

A contraction of have not, or has not, used in illiterate speech. In the United States the commoner spelling is hain't.

One who affiliates with Greeks, or imitates Greek manners; esp., a person of Jewish extraction who used the Greek language as his mother tongue, as did the Jews of Asia Minor, Greece, Syria, and Egypt; distinguished from the Hebraists, or native Jews (Acts vi. 1).

Contraction of only one ventricle of the heart.

A modified respiratory movement; a spasmodic inspiration, consisting of a sudden contraction of the diaphragm, accompanied with closure of the glottis, so that further entrance of air is prevented, while the impulse of the column of air entering and striking upon the closed glottis produces a sound, or hiccough. [Writt…

. Contraction for I will or I shall. I'll by a sign give notice to our friends. Shak.

. A contraction from I would or I had.

. A contraction of I am.

. Colloquial contraction of I have.

The crash or concussion attending the breaking up of masses of ice, -- often due to contraction from extreme cold.

Applied to a semipermanent contraction of a muscle, produced by a mechanical irritant.

he case of muscular motion, commences in the nerve centers, and excites the muscles to contraction. Opposed to excito-motor.

to effect; to cause; as, a fever induced by fatigue or exposure. Sour things induces a contraction in the nerves. Bacon.

Want of activity; sluggishness; -- said especially of the uterus, when, in labor, its contractions have nearly or wholly ceased. Center of inertia. (Mech.) See under Center.

Of honorable extraction; freeborn; noble; as, ingenuous blood of birth.

avitation; -- said of stars supposed to be so far apart that the affect of their mutual attraction is insensible. C. A. Young. Insulated wire, wire wound with silk, or covered with other nonconducting material, for electrical use.

the beginning of a contraction or narrowing in a tube or cylinder.