contractility

Con`trac*til"i*ty, n. 1. The quality or property by which bodies shrink or contract. 2. (Physiol.) Defn: The power possessed by the fibers of living muscle of contracting or shortening. 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.

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