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De - Pt| English Dictionary: [contracting] | by the DICT Development Group |
| 1 result for [contracting] | |
| From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
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Contract \Con*tract"\, 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. | |
