CONTRACTION. A reduction in FORM, often marked in English in writing and print by an apostrophe ('). There are five major types: (1) Auxiliary contractions such as I've I have, he'll he will, somebody's somebody is or has, who'd who had or would. (2) Negative contraction such as isn't is not, don't do not, won't will not. (3) Pronoun contraction of us in the first-person plural imperative let's, as in Let's sit down awhile. (4) ELISIONS, such as C'mon Come on, bo'sun boatswain. (5) Short forms used in notetaking, such as runng running, dept department. When elements are removed from inside a word or phrase, but nothing is taken from the end, a full point is often omitted. There is inconsistency in the use of some usually occupational titles, which may or may not have a POINT, depending on individual preference or house style, such as Dr or Dr. for Doctor. Although writers usually follow a convention or are required to do so by their publishers, the playwright George Bernard SHAW defied the use of the APOSTROPHE for contractions, establishing a unique norm for his texts with such forms as didnt, wouldnt. Tradition favours the use of apostrophes in writing dialect, so as to mark deviation from the standard language, as in li'l ole me (little old me) in colloquial AmE and Ah'm no' comin' (I am not coming) in Scots. However, many late 20c dialect writers reject this convention, arguing that it downgrades the medium they have chosen to use and that for their purposes forms that may once have been contracted are not contractions at all. Writers of Scots, for example, might use an apostrophe when two words come together, but not for individual words, as in Ah'm no comin. See ABBREVIATION, NEGATION.

con·trac·tion / kənˈtrakshən/ • n. the process of becoming smaller. ∎  the process in which a muscle becomes or is made shorter and tighter. ∎  (usu. contractions) a shortening of the uterine muscles occurring at intervals before and during childbirth. ∎  a word or group of words resulting from shortening an original form: “goodbye” is a contraction of “God be with you.” ∎  the process of shortening a word by combination or elision.

contraction (in animal physiology) The shortening of muscle fibres in order to exert a force on a tissue or organ of the body. In striated muscle contraction is brought about by interaction of actin and myosin filaments (see sarcomere; sliding filament theory; voluntary muscle): it provides a force for locomotion and plays a role in maintaining the balance and posture of the animal. See also involuntary muscle.

contraction (kŏn-trak-shŏn) n. the shortening of a muscle in response to a motor nerve impulse. This generates tension in the muscle, usually causing movement.