Idioms for contract
put out a contract on, Slang.
to hire or attempt to hire an assassin to kill (someone): The mob put out a contract on the informer.
Origin of contract
1275–1325; (noun) Middle English (< Anglo-French) < Latin
contractus undertaking a transaction, agreement, equivalent to
contrac-, variant stem of
contrahere to draw in, bring together, enter into an agreement (
con-
con- +
trahere to drag, pull; cf.
traction) +
-tus suffix of v. action; (v.) < Latin
contractus, past participle of
contrahere
SYNONYMS FOR contract
synonym study for contract
1. See
agreement.
10.
Contract,
compress,
concentrate,
condense imply retaining original content but reducing the amount of space occupied.
Contract means to cause to draw more closely together:
to contract a muscle.
Compress suggests fusing to become smaller by means of fairly uniform external pressure:
to compress gases into liquid form.
Concentrate implies causing to gather around a point:
to concentrate troops near an objective; to concentrate one's strength.
Condense implies increasing the compactness, or thickening the consistency of a homogeneous mass:
to condense milk. It is also used to refer to the reducing in length of a book or the like.
OTHER WORDS FROM contract
Words nearby contract
Example sentences from the Web for contract
British Dictionary definitions for contract
contract
verb (kənˈtrækt)
noun (ˈkɒntrækt)
Derived forms of contract
contractible, adjective contractibly, adverbWord Origin for contract
C16: from Latin contractus agreement, something drawn up, from
contrahere to draw together, from
trahere to draw
Medical definitions for contract
contract
[ kən-trăkt′, kŏn′trăkt′ ]
v.
To reduce in size by drawing together.
To become reduced in size by or as if by being drawn together, as the pupil of the eye.
To acquire or incur by contagion or infection.
Cultural definitions for contract
contract
A legally binding agreement between two or more parties.