v. [f. L. constrict- ppl. stem of constringĕre; cf. astrict, restrict. Other forms derived from the same L. verb are CONSTRAIN (through Fr.), and CONSTRINGE.]
1. trans. To draw together as by tightening an encircling string; to make small or narrow (a tube or orifice); to contract, compress.
1759. trans. Duhamel’s Husb., III. xii. (1762), 397. More closely constricted, and thereby the juice is better strained.
1848. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre (1857), 245. A spasm constricted her mouth for an instant.
1871. Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., 123. The neck should not be constricted by a tight collar.
fig. 1854. J. Martineau, Stud. Chr. (1875), 19. The error deforms his faith as much as it tends to stiffen and constrict his life.
1883. Pall Mall G., 28 Dec., 3/1. To seize a position which would enable them to constrict at pleasure the commerce of the Cape.
2. To cause (organic tissue) to contract or draw together; to cause to contract or shrink.
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, 273. Such things as constrict the Fibres.
1791. Hamilton, Berthollet’s Dyeing, I. I. I. i. 18. The pores of the stuff, opened by the heat of boiling water, and again constricted by cold.
1881. B. Sanderson, in Nature, No. 619. 442. The influence which these [vascular nerves] transmit is here relaxing, there constricting.
