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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Contract \Con*tract"\ (k[o^]n*tr[a^]kt"), verb (used without an object)
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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Contract \Con*tract"\ (k[o^]n*tr[a^]kt"), verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Contracted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Contracting}.] [L. contractus, p. p. of contrahere to contract; con- + trahere to draw: cf. F. contracter. See {Trace}, and cf. {Contract}, noun]
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.
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.
Syn: To shorten; abridge; epitomize; narrow; lessen; condense; reduce; confine; incur; assume.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Contract \Con"tract\ (k[o^]n"tr[a^]kt), adjective Contracted; as, a contract verb. --Goodwin.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Contract \Con*tract"\ (k[o^]n*tr[a^]kt"), adjective [L. contractus, p. p.] Contracted; affianced; betrothed. [Obs.] --Shak.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Contract \Con"tract\ (k[o^]n"tr[a^]kt), noun [L. contractus, fr. contrahere: cf. F. contrat, formerly also contract.]
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. --Wharton.
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.
Syn: Covenant; agreement; compact; stipulation; bargain; arrangement; obligation. See {Covenant}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
contract
noun
1: a binding agreement between two or more persons that is enforceable by law
2: (contract bridge) the highest bid becomes the contract setting the number of tricks that the bidder must make [syn: {declaration}]
3: a variety of bridge in which the bidder receives points toward game only for the number of tricks he bid [syn: {contract bridge}]
verb
1: enter into a contractual arrangement [syn: {undertake}]
2: engage by written agreement; "They signed two new pitchers for the next season" [syn: {sign}, {sign on}, {sign up}]
3: squeeze or press together; "she compressed her lips"; "the spasm contracted the muscle" [syn: {compress}, {constrict}, {squeeze}, {compact}, {press}]
4: become smaller or draw together; "The fabric shrank"; "The balloon shrank" [syn: {shrink}] [ant: {expand}, {stretch}]
5: be stricken by an illness, fall victim to an illness; "He got AIDS"; "She came down with pneumonia"; "She took a chill" [syn: {take}, {get}]
6: make smaller; "The heat contracted the woollen garment"
7: compress or concentrate; "Congress condensed the three-year plan into a six-month plan" [syn: {condense}, {concentrate}]
8: make or become more narrow or restricted; "The selection was narrowed"; "The road narrowed" [syn: {narrow}] [ant: {widen}]
9: reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened" [syn: {abridge}, {foreshorten}, {abbreviate}, {shorten}, {cut}, {reduce}] [ant: {elaborate}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
258 Moby Thesaurus words for "contract": OD, abbreviate, abridge, abstract, accept obligation, accord, acquire, affair, affiance, afflict, agree, agree to, agreement, answer for, arrangement, attempt, bag, bang, bar, bargain, 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, compact, compress, concentrate, condense, 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, diminish, 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, get, 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, pact, 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, reduce, restrict, retrench, run, run a temperature, sack, scale down, score, seal, seal off, seal up, secure, shake hands on, shave, shear, shorten, shrink, 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, treaty, 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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