2. Relying on, or subject to, something else for support; not
able to exist, or sustain itself, or to perform anything,
without the will, power, or aid of something else; not
self-sustaining; contingent or conditioned; subordinate;
-- often with on or upon; as, dependent on God; dependent
upon friends.
England, long dependent and degraded, was again a
power of the first rank. --Macaulay.
{Dependent covenant} or {contract} (Law), one not binding
until some connecting stipulation is performed.
{Dependent variable} (Math.), a varying quantity whose
changes are arbitrary, but are regarded as produced by
changes in another variable, which is called the
independent variable.
{Wagering, or gambling}, {contract}. A contract which is of
the nature of wager. Contracts of this nature include
various common forms of valid commercial contracts, as
contracts of insurance, contracts dealing in futures,
options, etc. Other wagering contracts and bets are now
generally made illegal by statute against betting and
gambling, and wagering has in many cases been made a
criminal offence. Wages \Wa"ges\, n. pl. (Theoretical
Economics)
The share of the annual product or national dividend which
goes as a reward to labor, as distinct from the remuneration
received by capital in its various forms. This economic or
technical sense of the word wages is broader than the current
sense, and includes not only amounts actually paid to
laborers, but the remuneration obtained by those who sell the
products of their own work, and the wages of superintendence
or management, which are earned by skill in directing the
work of others.
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.
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.
Years contracting to a moment. --Wordsworth.
2. To make an agreement; to covenant; to agree; to bargain;
as, to contract for carrying the mail.
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}.