17 uses
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1 —15 uses as in:
the metal contracted
Definition
when something gets shorter or smaller
- David held her hand as the contractions grew strong, but when they took her to the delivery room he stayed behind.p. 312.7
- When the contractions came she squeezed his hand so hard he felt as if the bones in his fingers might fuse.p. 9.9
- The contractions were as she had said, five minutes apart, then four.p. 9.9
- When he took her arm he felt strangely as if he himself were suspended in the room, somewhere near the light fixture, watching them both from above, noting every nuance and detail: how she trembled with a contraction, how his fingers closed so firmly and protectively around her elbow.p. 10.3
- She was silent for a moment, her hand gripping the dashboard as she breathed through a contraction.p. 11.5
- The contractions were just a minute or so apart.p. 13.3
- "Phoebe and Paul," the doctor repeated, but he was concentrating on the contraction now rising in his wife's flesh.p. 14.3
- Better that she should be awake to push; he would put her out for the worst of the contractions, for the crowning and the birth.p. 14.5
- His wife's hands relaxed, her fists unclenching as the gas took effect, and she lay still, tranquil and unknowing, as another contraction and another moved through her.p. 14.6
- His wife's face, soft with relief and exhaustion, suddenly tightened with another contraction, and the doctor, expecting the afterbirth, returned to the stool between her legs and pressed lightly against her abdomen.p. 15.9
- Nurse," he called, as the next contraction tightened.p. 16.1
- The flash of dark hair between Norah Henry's white thighs and her immense belly, rippling with contractions like a lake in the wind.p. 22.5
- Caroline Gill, who had held her hand through the rippling contractions, whose blue eyes and steady gaze were inextricably connected for Norah to that wild and snowy night, had simply disappeared—a mystery, that, and a scandal.p. 74.4
- Caroline had stared at it for a good fifteen minutes the first time she saw it, knowing that the swell of flesh belonged to Norah Henry, remembering the white hill of her belly rippling with contractions, the powerful force of her grip.p. 243.7
- The presence of this woman from the long-lost past had set up a fluttering deep in her heart, taking her back to that dreamlike night when she and David had ridden to the clinic through the silent snow-filled streets, when Caroline Gill had administered gas and held her hand during the contractions, saying Look at me, look at me now, Mrs. Henry, I'm right here with you and you're doing just fine.p. 366.5
There are no more uses of "contract" flagged with this meaning in The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.
Typical Usage
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? —2 uses
exact meaning not specified
- Frederic has two more years on his contract, so we don't have to make any decisions for a while.p. 333.9
- His contract here finishes this month.p. 318.0
There are no more uses of "contract" in The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.
Typical Usage
(best examples)