Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Contract"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Dependent \De*pend"ent\, a. [L. dependens, -entis, p. pr.
dependere. See {Depend}, and cf. {Dependant}.]
1. Hanging down; as, a dependent bough or leaf.

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.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Wager \Wa"ger\, n.

{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.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

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.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Contract \Con*tract"\, 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.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Contract \Con"tract\, a.
Contracted; as, a contract verb. --Goodwin.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Contract \Con*tract"\, a. [L. contractus, p. p.]
Contracted; affianced; betrothed. [Obs.] --Shak.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Contract \Con"tract\, 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}.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

contract
n 1: a binding agreement between two or more persons that is
enforceable by law
2: (bridge) the highest bid becomes the contract setting the
number of tricks that the bidder must make
3: a variety of bridge in which the bidder receives points
toward game only for the number of tricks he bid [syn: {contract
bridge}]
v 1: enter into a contractual arrangement [syn: {undertake}]
2: engage by written agreement; "They signed two new pitchers
for the next season" [syn: {sign}, {fee}, {sign on}, {sign
up}]
3: squeeze or press together; "she compressed her lips" [syn: {compress},
{constrict}, {squeeze}, {compact}, {press}]
4: draw together; "The fabric shrank" [syn: {shrink}] [ant: {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 garment contracted in the dryer"; "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}]


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