Contract
['kɒntrækt] or ['kɑntrækt]
Definition
(noun.) a variety of bridge in which the bidder receives points toward game only for the number of tricks he bid.
(noun.) a binding agreement between two or more persons that is enforceable by law.
(noun.) (contract bridge) the highest bid becomes the contract setting the number of tricks that the bidder must make.
(verb.) be stricken by an illness, fall victim to an illness; 'He got AIDS'; 'She came down with pneumonia'; 'She took a chill'.
(verb.) enter into a contractual arrangement.
(verb.) make smaller; 'The heat contracted the woollen garment'.
Checked by Lanny--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) To draw together or nearer; to reduce to a less compass; to shorten, narrow, or lessen; as, to contract one's sphere of action.
(n.) To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit.
(n.) To bring on; to incur; to acquire; as, to contract a habit; to contract a debt; to contract a disease.
(n.) To enter into, with mutual obligations; to make a bargain or covenant for.
(n.) To betroth; to affiance.
(n.) To shorten by omitting a letter or letters or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one.
(v. i.) 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.
(v. i.) To make an agreement; to covenant; to agree; to bargain; as, to contract for carrying the mail.
(a.) Contracted; as, a contract verb.
(a.) Contracted; affianced; betrothed.
(n.) 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.
(n.) A formal writing which contains the agreement of parties, with the terms and conditions, and which serves as a proof of the obligation.
(n.) The act of formally betrothing a man and woman.
Inputed by Inez
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Lessen, shorten, narrow, diminish, abridge, reduce, epitomize, draw together.[2]. Incur, bring, procure, get, assume, take upon one's self, become liable to.
v. n. [1]. Shrivel, shrink, shrink up.[2]. Agree, stipulate, bargain, covenant, make a bargain.
n. Compact, bargain, stipulation, covenant, convention, concordat, treaty, agreement, pact, arrangement.
Typist: Shelley
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Abridge, abbreviate, narrow, lessen, reduce, compress, decrease, retrench,curtail, form, agree
ANT:Expand, amplify, dilate, elongate, reverse, cancel, abandon
Typist: Portia
Definition
v.t. to draw together: to lessen: to shorten: to acquire: to incur: to bargain for: to betroth.—v.i. to shrink: to become less.—n. Con′tract an agreement on fixed terms: a bond: a betrothment: the writing containing an agreement.—adj. Contract′ed drawn together: narrow: mean.—adv. Contract′edly.—ns. Contract′edness; Contractibil′ity Contract′ibleness.—adjs. Contract′ible capable of being contracted; Contract′ile tending or having power to contract.—ns. Contractil′ity; Contrac′tion act of contracting: a word shortened by rejecting a part of it: a symbol for shortening in pal鎜graphy &c.—adj. Contract′ive tending to contract.—n. Contract′or one of the parties to a bargain or agreement: one who engages to execute work or furnish supplies at a fixed rate.—adj. Contract′ual.—Contract one's self out of to get rid of some general obligation by making a special contract; Contract work work done for a fixed sum estimated beforehand and paid down for the whole job.
Inputed by Jackson
Examples
- I therefore myself dismissed the contractor and made a new contract with a native, at more than double the original price. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- The spasm causes the muscles of the jaw to contract very quickly and as soon as they are contracted, they let the jaw fall again of its own weight. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- In fear that this subterfuge might be challenged, he gave Benjamin a discharge of his indentures, but at the same time s igned with him a new secret contract. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Here is my Hotel-note to be paid, according to contract. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- I was there when Finito had a contract for three fights at the Feria. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- They are all three paid for their work according to the contract which they may happen to make with their respective superiors. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- I endeavored to sell my lighting patents in different countries of Europe, and made a contract with a couple of men. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Except bills of exchange, and some other mercantile bills, all other deeds, bonds, and contracts, are subject to a stamp duty. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- When the steam pressure varies in this flat tube its coil expands or contracts, and in moving the index hand over the scale indicates the degree of pressure. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- The answer is that justice is of use in contracts, and contracts are money partnerships. Plato. The Republic.
- He made short-term contracts, and tried in every way to keep control of the whole system in the hands of the parent company. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Mr. Tulkinghorn, profoundly attentive, throws this off with a shrug of self-depreciation and contracts his eyebrows a little more. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- He received other contracts, and eventually the national government came to rely upon his factory for a large part of its war supplies. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Gould was pounding the Western Union on the Stock Exchange, disturbing its railroad contracts, and, being advised by his lawyers that this patent was of great value, bought it. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Secondly, In a private copartnery, each partner is bound for the debts contracted by the company, to the whole extent of his fortune. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The spasm causes the muscles of the jaw to contract very quickly and as soon as they are contracted, they let the jaw fall again of its own weight. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- What is called the unfunded debt of Great Britain, is contracted in the former of those two ways. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The spikes had never looked so sharp and cruel, nor the bars so heavy, nor the prison space so gloomy and contracted. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Pardon me again--has contracted your displeasure, how? Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- At the sound of his blind, vindictive voice, the laughter suddenly left the girls, and their hearts contracted with contempt. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- It took him at least ten years to pay off his college bills contracted during his father's lifetime. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- There are two ways of contracting a chimney; one by contracting the opening _before_ the fire, the other by contracting the funnel _above_ the fire. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- She appears to regard their number and value as evidence of the disinterested affection of the contracting parties. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- A vulcanite or other strip is easily affected by differences of temperature, expanding and contracting by reason of the minutest changes. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- A sinking fund, though instituted for the payment of old, facilitates very much the contracting of new debts. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The want of parsimony, in time of peace, imposes the necessity of contracting debt in time of war. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Typist: Sophie