The term 'quaint contraction' refers to a type of archaic language used in literature, particularly in poetry and prose from the 17th and 18th centuries. The crossword solutions for this term are 'EEN' (3 letters), 'MAYNT' (5 letters), 'TWAS' (4 letters), 'TIS' (3 letters), 'SHANT' (5 letters), and 'TWERE' (5 letters). These words are all contractions of longer phrases, such as 'it is' becoming 'tis' and 'it was' becoming 'twas'. They are used to create a more poetic and old-fashioned feel to the writing.