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. [ 1913 Webster ]

In all things desuetude doth contract and narrow our faculties. Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou didst contract and purse thy brow. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To bring on; to incur; to acquire; as, to contract a habit; to contract a debt; to contract a disease. [ 1913 Webster ]

Each from each contract new strength and light. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such behavior we contract by having much conversed with persons of high station. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To enter into, with mutual obligations; to make a bargain or covenant for. [ 1913 Webster ]

We have contracted an inviolable amity, peace, and lague with the aforesaid queen. Hakluyt. [ 1913 Webster ]

Many persons . . . had contracted marriage within the degrees of consanguinity . . . prohibited by law. Strype. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To betroth; to affiance. [ 1913 Webster ]

The truth is, she and I, long since contracted,
Are now so sure, that nothing can dissolve us. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Years contracting to a moment. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make an agreement; to covenant; to agree; to bargain; as, to contract for carrying the mail. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Contracted; as, a contract verb. Goodwin. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. contractus, p. p. ] Contracted; affianced; betrothed. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A formal writing which contains the agreement of parties, with the terms and conditions, and which serves as a proof of the obligation. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The act of formally betrothing a man and woman. [ 1913 Webster ]

This is the the night of the contract. Longwellow.

Syn. -- Covenant; agreement; compact; stipulation; bargain; arrangement; obligation. See Covenant. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. capable of being transmitted by infection; same as communicable, 1; -- of disease.
Syn. -- catching, communicable, contagious, transmissible, transmittable. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. Drawn together; shrunken; wrinkled; narrow; as, a contracted brow; a contracted noun. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Narrow; illiberal; selfish; as, a contracted mind; contracted views. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Bargained for; betrothed; as, a contracted peace. [ 1913 Webster ]

Inquire me out contracted bachelors. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being contracted; narrowness; meanness; selfishness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Capability of being contracted; quality of being contractible; as, the contractibility and dilatability of air. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of contraction. [ 1913 Webster ]

Small air bladders distable and contractible. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Contractibility. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. contractile. ] tending to contract; having the power or property of contracting, or of shrinking into shorter or smaller dimensions; as, the contractile tissues. [ 1913 Webster ]

The heart's contractile force. H. Brooke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Each cilium seems to be composed of contractile substance. Hixley. [ 1913 Webster ]

Contractile vacuole (Zool.), a pulsating cavity in the interior of a protozoan, supposed to be excretory in function. There may be one, two, or more. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The quality or property by which bodies shrink or contract. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Physiol.) The power possessed by the fibers of living muscle of contracting or shortening. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ When subject to the will, as in the muscles of locomotion, such power is called voluntary contractility; when not controlled by the will, as in the muscles of the heart, it is involuntary contractility. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the act or process of acquiring an infectious disease; contraction; as, the contracting of a serious illness can be financially catastrophic.
Syn. -- catching. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. contractio: cf. F. contraction. ] 1. The act or process of contracting, shortening, or shrinking; the state of being contracted; as, contraction of the heart, of the pupil of the eye, or of a tendon; the contraction produced by cold. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Math.) The process of shortening an operation. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The act of incurring or becoming subject to, as liabilities, obligation, debts, etc.; the process of becoming subject to; as, the contraction of a disease. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Something contracted or abbreviated, as a word or phrase; -- as, plenipo for plenipotentiary; crim. con. for criminal conversation, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Gram.) The shortening of a word, or of two words, by the omission of a letter or letters, or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one; as, ne'er for never; can't for can not; don't for do not; it's for it is. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A marriage contract. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Tending to contract; having the property or power or power of contracting. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] One who contracts; one of the parties to a bargain; one who covenants to do anything for another; specifically, one who contracts to perform work on a rather large scale, at a certain price or rate, as in building houses or making a railroad. [ 1913 Webster ]

. 1. The sweating system. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. The system of employing convicts by selling their labor (to be performed inside the prison) at a fixed price per day to contractors who are allowed to have agents in the prison to superintend the work. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Babylonian & Assyrian Antiq.) A clay tablet on which was inscribed a contract, for safe keeping. Such tablets were inclosed in an outer case (often called the envelope), on which was inscribed a duplicate of the inscription on the inclosed tablet. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ L. contractura a drawing together. ] (Med.) A state of permanent rigidity or contraction of the muscles, generally of the flexor muscles. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Uncontracted. [ Obs. ] Blackwall. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To make a previous contract or agreement. Ayliffe. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Precontracted; p. pr. & vb. n. Precontracting. ] To contract, engage, or stipulate previously. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A contract preceding another; especially (Law), a contract of marriage which, according to the ancient law, rendered void a subsequent marriage solemnized in violation of it. Abbott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A contract under, or subordinate to, a previous contract. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Contracted after a former contract. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Betrothed for the second time. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who takes a portion of a contract, as for work, from the principal contractor. [ 1913 Webster ]