Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
CONTRACTIONS
Noun
contractions
plural of contraction
Source: Wiktionary
CONTRACTION
Con*trac"tion, n. Etym: [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 tendion; the contraction produced by cold.
2. (Math.)
Definition: 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.
4. Something contracted or abbreviated, as a word or phrase; -- as, plenipo for plenipotentiary; crim. con. for criminal conversation, etc.
5. (Gram.)
Definition: 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.
6. A marriage contract. [Obs.] Shak.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Word of the Day
19 November 2024
SALTWORT
(noun) bushy plant of Old World salt marshes and sea beaches having prickly leaves; burned to produce a crude soda ash
Coffee Trivia
