Contract

Con"tract (k&obreve;n"trăkt), n. [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.

Con*tract" (k&obreve;n*trăkt"), a. [L. contractus, p. p.]

Contracted; affianced; betrothed. [Obs.] Shak.

Con"tract (k&obreve;n"trăkt), a. Contracted; as, a contract verb. Goodwin.

Con*tract" (k&obreve;n*trăkt"), 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.

Con*tract" (k&obreve;n*trăkt"), v. t. [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, n.] 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.