Noun

(en noun)

The process of constructing.

Construction is underway on the new bridge.

Anything that has been constructed.

The engineer marvelled at his construction .

The trade of building structures.

He had worked in construction all his life.

A building, model or some other structure.

The office was a construction of steel and glass.

(arts) A (usually non-representational) structure, such as a collage etc.

"Construction in string and clockwork" took first prize.

The manner in which something is built.

A thing of simple construction .

* {{quote-book, year=1913, author=

, title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad , chapter=4 citation , passage=Nothing could be more business-like than the construction of the stout dams, and nothing more gently rural than the limpid lakes, with the grand old forest trees marshalled round their margins like a veteran army that had marched down to drink, only to be stricken motionless at the water’s edge.}}

(grammar) A group of words arranged to form a meaningful phrase.

The act or result of construing the meaning of something.

American conservatives tend to favor strict construction of the Constitution.

The meaning or interpretation of a text, action etc.; the way something is viewed by an observer or onlooker.

* 1992 , Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety , Harper Perennial 2007, p. 95:

He had considered sending Lucille away to stay with relations. But then people might have put the worst construction on it – might believe she had done something she shouldn't have.

(geometry) A geometric figure of arcs and line segments that is drawable with a straightedge and compass.

Noun

(uncountable) The act of building]] or putting up or together of something; construction. [[File:Marquee,_Throope_Manor_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1491075.jpg, thumb, Erection of a large tent

(countable) Anything erected or built.

The Empire State Building was once the world's tallest erection .

(uncountable, physiology) The physiological process by which erectile tissue, such as a penis or clitoris, becomes erect by being engorged with blood.

* 1997 , Alan Hyde, Bodies of Law , Princeton University Press (1997), ISBN 9781400822317, page 175:

I think that the case also demonstrates some singular aspects of the penis as a narrator of tales, specifically the way in which the erection of a penis falls outside a man's conscious control and therefore threatens a carefully constructed master legal narrative in which bodily self-control graphically represents the self-government contemplated by a democratic legal society.

* 2006 , Lori Marso, Feminist Thinkers and the Demands of Femininity: The Lives and Work of Intellectual Women , Routledge (2006), ISBN 0415979269, unnumbered pages (quoting Simone Beauvoir):

There are men who say they cannot bear to show themselves naked before women unless in a state of erection; and indeed through erection the flesh becomes activity, potency,

* 2007 , Edward J. Behrend-Martinez, Unfit for Marriage: Impotent Spouses on Trial in the Basque Region of Spain, 1650-1750 , University of Nevada Press (2007), ISBN 9780874176995, page 14:

A marriage was only consummated via erection , penetration, and insemination intra vas .

(uncountable, physiology, of a penis or clitoris) The state or quality of being erect from engorgement with blood.

{{quote-Fanny Hill, part=2 ,

* 2008 , Robert Crooks & Karla Baur, Our Sexuality , Thomson Wadsworth (2008), ISBN 9780495095545, page 163:

Older men typically require longer periods of time to achieve erection and reach orgasm.

* 2011 , Alan L. Rubin, Diabetes for Dummies , Wiley Publishing, Inc. (2008), ISBN 9780470270868, page 104:

A very rare complication is priapism , where the penis maintains its erection for many hours.

(countable) A penis or clitoris that is erect.

He placed his newspaper on his lap to hide his erection .

* 2002 , Marguerite Crump, No B.O.!: The Head-to-Toe Book of Hygiene for Preteens , Free Spirit Publishing (2005), ISBN 9781575427003, page 85:

The surge of hormones during puberty means you might have lots of erections , even when you don't want them—like during school.

* 2006 , Abha Dawesar, That Summer in Paris , Anchor Books (2007), ISBN 9780307275455, page 259:

Prem was sure everyone could see his erection through his pants, everyone but Maya, who he had been careful to keep to his side all the time

* 2007 , Ken Follett, World Without End , Dutton (2007), ISBN 9780525950073, page 244:

He kissed her again, this time with a long, moist kiss that gave him an erection .