The act or process of contracting, shortening, or shrinking; the state of being contracted; as, contraction of the heart, of the pupil of the eye, or of a tendon; the contraction produced by cold.
The process of shortening an operation.
The act of incurring or becoming subject to, as liabilities, obligation, debts, etc.; the process of becoming subject to; as, the contraction of a disease.
Something contracted or abbreviated, as a word or phrase; - as, plenipo for plenipotentiary; crim. con. for criminal conversation, etc.
The shortening of a word, or of two words, by the omission of a letter or letters, or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one; as, ne'er for never; can't for can not; don't for do not; it's for it is.
A marriage contract.
The act of expanding or spreading out; the condition of being expanded; dilation; enlargement.
That which is expanded; expanse; extend surface; as, the expansion of a sheet or of a lake; the expansion was formed of metal.
Space through which anything is expanded; also, pure space.
an increase in the production of goods and services over time, and in the volume of business transactions, generally associated with an increase in employment and an increase in the money supply. Opposite of contraction.
The developed result of an indicated operation; as, the expansion of (a + b)2 is a2 + 2ab + b2.
The operation of steam in a cylinder after its communication with the boiler has been cut off, by which it continues to exert pressure upon the moving piston.
The enlargement of the ship mathematically from a model or drawing to the full or building size, in the process of construction.
an enlarged or extended version of something, such as a writing or discourse; as, the journal article is an expansion of the lecture she gave.
an expansion joint. See below.
