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Contractile vacuole (Zoöl.),
a pulsating cavity in the interior of a protozoan, supposed
to be excretory in function. There may be one, two, or
more.

Con`trac*til"i*ty (?), n.
1. The quality or property by which bodies
shrink or contract.

2. (Physiol.) The power possessed
by the fibers of living muscle of contracting or
shortening.

&fist; When subject to the will, as in the muscles of
locomotion, such power is called voluntary contractility;
when not controlled by the will, as in the muscles of the heart,
it is involuntary contractility.

Con*trac"tion (?), n. [L.
contractio: cf. F. contraction.] 1.
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.

2. (Math.) The process of
shortening an operation.

3. 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.


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