Contract

Definition of Contract

Con`tract´ Pronunciation: kǒn`trăkt´

v. t.	1.	To draw together or nearer; to reduce to a less compass; to shorten, narrow, or lessen; as, to contract one's sphere of action. [imp. & p. p. Contracted; p. pr. & vb. n. Contracting.] In all things desuetude doth contract and narrow our faculties. - Dr. H. More.
	2.	To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit. Thou didst contract and purse thy brow. - Shak.
	3.	To bring on; to incur; to acquire; as, to contract a habit; to contract a debt; to contract a disease. Each from each contract new strength and light. - Pope. Such behavior we contract by having much conversed with persons of high station. - Swift.
	4.	To enter into, with mutual obligations; to make a bargain or covenant for. We have contracted an inviolable amity, peace, and lague with the aforesaid queen. - Hakluyt. Many persons . . . had contracted marriage within the degrees of consanguinity . . . prohibited by law. - Strype.
	5.	To betroth; to affiance. The truth is, she and I, long since contracted, Are now so sure, that nothing can dissolve us. - Shak.
	6.	(Gram.) To shorten by omitting a letter or letters or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one.
v. i.	1.	To be drawn together so as to be diminished in size or extent; to shrink; to be reduced in compass or in duration; as, iron contracts in cooling; a rope contracts when wet. Years contracting to a moment. - Wordsworth.
	2.	To make an agreement; to covenant; to agree; to bargain; as, to contract for carrying the mail.
a.	1.	Contracted; as, a contract verb.
	1.	Contracted; affianced; betrothed.
n.	1.	(Law) The agreement of two or more persons, upon a sufficient consideration or cause, to do, or to abstain from doing, some act; an agreement in which a party undertakes to do, or not to do, a particular thing; a formal bargain; a compact; an interchange of legal rights.
	2.	A formal writing which contains the agreement of parties, with the terms and conditions, and which serves as a proof of the obligation.
	3.	The act of formally betrothing a man and woman. This is the the night of the contract. - Longwellow.

Related Words

OD, abbreviate, abridge, abstract, accept obligation, accord, acquire, affair, affiance, afflict, agree, agree to, answer for, arrangement, attempt, bag, bang, bar, bargain for, barricade, batten, batten down, be answerable for, be brought down, be felled, be responsible for, be security for, be seized of, be struck down, be traumatized, become engaged, betroth, bind, binding agreement, bob, boil down, bolt, bond, break out, bring down, bring on, bring upon, business, button, button up, capsulize, capture, cartel, catch, catch cold, cause, choke, choke off, circumscribe, clap, clip, close, close up, coarct, collapse, collective agreement, come by, come down with, come in for, come into, commit, commitment, compress, concentrate, confine, consolidate, consortium, constrict, constringe, contain, contract an engagement, convention, corral, corrugate, covenant, covenant of salt, cover, cramp, crease, crop, curtail, cut, cut back, cut down, cut off short, cut short, deal, decline, decrease, derange, derive, develop, dicker, disorder, do a deal, dock, drag down, draw, draw in, draw together, dwindle, earn, effort, elide, employment contract, engage, engagement, enter into possession, enterprise, epitomize, erupt, fail, fall in with, fall into, fasten, fever, fold, fold up, foreshorten, formal agreement, gain, go bail for, go in, go into shock, harvest, have an understanding, incur, indispose, induce, invite, ironclad agreement, key, knit, latch, legal agreement, legal contract, lessen, limit, lock, lock out, lock up, make, make a deal, minify, mow, mutual agreement, narrow, net, nip, obligate, obligation, obtain, occlude, operation, overdose, paction, padlock, plan, plight, plumb, poll, pollard, preengagement, procure, program, project, promise, proposition, protocol, prune, publish the banns, pucker, pucker up, pull down, purse, reap, recap, recapitulate, recognizance, retrench, run, run a temperature, sack, scale down, score, seal, seal off, seal up, secure, shake hands on, shave, shear, shorten, shut, shut the door, shut up, sicken, sink, slam, snap, snape, snub, solidify, squeeze, squeeze shut, stipulate, stipulation, straiten, strangle, strangulate, stunt, succumb to, sum up, summarize, synopsize, take, take ill, take in, take the vows, taper, task, telescope, transaction, trim, troth, truncate, understanding, undertake, undertaking, union contract, upset, valid contract, venture, verbal agreement, wage contract, weaken, welcome, win, work, wrinkle, zip up, zipper

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Contortion
Contortionist
Contortive
Contortuplicate
Contour
Contour feathers
Contour line
Contour of ground
Contourne'
Contourniated
Contra
Contraband
Contraband of war
Contrabandism
Contrabandist
Contrabass
Contrabasso
contraception
contraceptive
contraclockwise
-Contract-
Contract system
Contract tablet
contractable
Contracted
Contractedness
Contractibility
Contractible
Contractibleness
Contractile
Contractile vacuole
Contractility
contracting
Contraction
Contractive
Contractor
Contracture
Contradance
Contradict
Contradictable
Contradicter

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