| 释义 |
contraction|kənˈtrækʃən|
[a. F. contraction (13th c. in Littré), ad. L. contractiōn-em, n. of action from contrahĕre to contract.]
I. Related to contract v. I, II.
1. a. The action of contracting or of establishing by contract; spec. the action of contracting marriage; † also, betrothal (obs.).
1598Hakluyt Voy. I. 180 (R.) The mutual contraction of a perpetuall league and confirmation of friendship. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. iv. 46 Oh such a deed, As from the body of Contraction pluckes The very soule. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 577 Contraction of peace and friendship. 1702C. Mather Magn. Chr. iv. iii. (1852) 62 After his ‘contraction’..unto the daughter of Mr. Wilson, he was married unto that gentlewoman. 1885N. & Q. 28 Nov. 433 The second marriage..was probably in 1384, though the pardon for its (unlicensed) contraction is not dated until February 18, 1389.
†b. = contractation. Obs.
1582Lichefield tr. Castaneda's Hist. E. Ind. 69 a, The house appointed for the contraction of the Indias. 1588R. Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 74 During the which time, the marchants do leaue their contractions and trafickes.
†c. The action of contracting for (work, or goods to be supplied). Obs.
1599Hakluyt Voy. II. ii. 316 The city of Palma, where is great contraction for wines, which are laden for the West India & other places. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 86 Interested in the Manufacture of Mill'd-Lead, and Contraction for the same with the Officers of the Navy.
2. The action of contracting or incurring (a debt).
1825McCulloch Pol. Econ. iii. viii. 386 Her subsequent contests..having led to the contraction of an immense public debt. 1884Earl Selborne in Law Times Rep. 8 Mar. 42/2 Anterior to the contraction of the..debt.
3. The action of contracting, acquiring, or becoming infected with (a disease, habit, etc.).
1683Tryon Way to Health 72 The Root of all or most Diseases is, first, some inward Contraction of matter, caused by Superfluity.
II. Related to contract v. III.
†4. The action of drawing together or collecting (trans. and intr.). Obs. rare.
1610Healey St. Aug. Citie of God xiii. xxiv. (1620) 468 As we men of the ayre about vs can make a contraction into our owne selues and giue it out againe in a breath. 1626Bacon Sylva §714 Tears are caused by a Contraction of the Spirits of the Brain.
5. a. The action or process of contracting (trans. and intr.), or state of being contracted; decrease in length, breadth, extent, or volume; shrinking, shortening, narrowing. (The most usual sense.)
1589Nashe Greene's Arcadia (1626) Pref. 7 To vaunt the pride of contraction in euery manuarie action: insomuch, that the Pater-noster..is written in the compasse of a penny. 1594T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 261 Feare..is also a contraction and closing vp of the heart. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 372 The act of laughter which is a sweet contraction of the muscles of the face. 1665Phil. Trans. I. 49 Measuring the Quantity of the Expansion and Contraction of Liquors by Cold. 1707Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 89 This Contraction of the Sensitive-Plant. 1749Smollett Regicide i. vii. (R.), The stern contraction of thy sullen brow. 1876Foster Phys. ii. ii. (1879) 303 The ribs are raised by the contraction of certain muscles.
b. Path. ‘A term for the shortening of a muscle from some morbid cause; also, a morbid shortening of any structure whether accompanied or not by alteration of tissue’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.).
1871T. Holmes Surg. (ed. 2) V. 589 Useful in cases of contraction of the elbow in children.
†c. = contracture 2. Obs.
1624Wotton Archit. (1672) 23 The Contraction aloft shall be one fourth part of his thickness below.
6. fig.
a. Restriction, limitation, confinement; diminution of amount, extent, or scope.
a1670Rust Disc. Truth (1682) 189 It is no bondage, slavery or contraction, to be bound up to the eternal Laws of Right and Justice. 1778Johnson Let. 3 July in Boswell, He..talks of making more contractions of his expense. 1848Mill Pol. Econ. iii. xiii. §3 The contraction of credit, characteristic of a commercial crisis.
b. Narrowness (of mind).
1775F. Burney Early Diary (1889) II. 94 Perfectly free from any narrowness or contraction. Ibid. II. 103 Not from bigotry or contraction; for he is perfectly liberal minded. 1865Mozley Mirac. viii. 175 Their standard is wholly free from contraction.
†7.
a. Abbreviation (of a writing, etc.), abridgement; condensation, conciseness. Obs. or arch.
1655M. Carter Hon. Rediv. (1660) 89 In the next place, I shall with as great contraction, lay down, etc. 1670Blount Law Dict. Pref., I have..made use of Cowel, Lambert, etc...yet seldom without Corrections, Contractions or Additions. 1725Pope Ess. Homer (J.), The main parts of the poem..no translator can prejudice but by omissions or contractions. 1869Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 219 Shelley never in his life wrote a poem of that exquisite contraction and completeness.
†b. quasi-concr. A reduction, an epitome.
1697W. Dampier Voy. (1698) I. A iv b, It is a contraction of a larger Map which I took from several stations in the Bay itself. 1721Strype Eccl. Mem. I. l. 384 This is but a contraction of the King's mandate to the Archbishop.
8. a. Gram., Phonetics, etc. The action of contracting or shortening (a word, a syllable, etc.) by omitting or combining some elements, or, in writing, by substituting a single symbol for a number of letters.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., A Contraction of Syllables. 1730–6Bailey (folio), Contraction (in Grammar), the reduction of two vowels or syllables into one. 1793Beddoes Math. Evid. 140 The universal tendency to contraction, is not less apparent in the Greek than in other languages. 1877Blackie's Pop. Encycl. I. 4/2 Carrying abbreviation and conventional contraction to such an excess as to make their writings unintelligible to all but the initiated.
b. Pros. The substitution of a long syllable for two short ones in Greek and Latin verse.
1884Hadley & Allen Grk. Gram. §1080 An example of contraction is the substitution of a spondee for the dactyl in the dactylic hexameter.
c. concr. A contracted or shortened form of a word, etc. in speech or writing; an abbreviation.
1755Johnson s.v., The writing is full of contractions. 1861P. B. Du Chaillu Expl. Equat. Africa App. B. (ed. 2) 475 The Mpongwe language..abounds in contractions and compounded words. 1867Skeat Pref. i. to P. Pl. A. p. xvi, All expansions of contractions [have been] marked by the use of italics.
9. Comb. † contraction-house = contractation-house; contraction joint, a joint in a concrete structure to prevent cracking during setting; a joint in any structure or material to prevent damage as a result of thermal expansion and contraction; contraction-rule, a pattern-maker's rule made slightly longer than the standard one to allow for the contraction of the casting in cooling.
1622Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 25 The small Quintall is the weight of the contraction House of the Indies. 1624Capt. Smith Virginia iv. 149 Those of the Contraction house were neuer able to subsist by the Mines onely.
1909Taylor & Thompson Treat. Concrete (ed. 2) xv. 286 Contraction in concrete walls is provided for by forming joints at intervals... As a rule only contraction joints need be provided, since expansion merely compresses the concrete. 1950H. J. Gilkey in L. C. Urquhart Civil Engin. Handbk. (ed. 3) vii. 646 In pavement construction, contraction joints are commonly spaced between ‘expansion’ joints at about one-third the expansion-joint interval. 1958J. S. Scott Dict. Civil Engin. 80 Contraction joint (C.E.) or shrinkage joint or expansion joint, a break in a structure usually made to allow for drying and temperature shrinkage of concrete or masonry and thus to prevent cracks forming at undesirable places.
a1877Knight Dict. Mech. 612/2 Contraction-rule. 1887P. N. Hasluck Pattern Maker's Handybk. i. 11 The adoption of a contraction-rule seems to dispose of the question of shrinkage [of castings] in the minds of most pattern makers. |