Contractility

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Contractility \Con`trac*til"i*ty\, n.
     1. The quality or property by which bodies shrink or
        contract.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Physiol.) The power possessed by the fibers of living


        muscle of contracting or shortening.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: 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.
           [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  contractility
       n : the capability or quality of shrinking or contracting,
           especially by muscle fibers and even some other forms of
           living matter