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.