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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
contract
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
an employment contract (also a contract of employment) (= an official document stating the details about someone’s employment)
▪ There is a clause in your employment contract covering holiday entitlement.
an exclusive deal/contract (=one that says that no other person or company can do the same job)
▪ Our firm has an exclusive contract to handle the company’s legal affairs.
breach of contract
▪ They sued the company for breach of contract.
break a contract
▪ He took the company to court for breaking the contract.
contract an illnessformal (= get an illness by catching it from another person)
▪ He contracted the illness while he was working abroad.
contract bridge
draw up a contract/agreement
▪ Some people draw up a contract when they get married.
lucrative business/market/contract etc
▪ He inherited a lucrative business from his father.
negotiate an agreement/contract etc
▪ Union leaders have negotiated an agreement for a shorter working week.
pitch for business/contracts/custom etc
▪ Booksellers are keen to pitch for school business.
renew sb’s contract/licence/membership etc
▪ I need to renew my passport this year.
rental contract/scheme/service etc
▪ Could you sign the rental agreement?
secure a deal/contract
▪ The company secured a $20 million contract.
social contract
your muscles contract (=tighten so that you can move a part of your body)
▪ These nerves tell the muscles when to contract.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
binding
▪ From that moment, there is a binding exchange of contracts.
▪ It was held there that the parties had made a binding contract, albeit with the price still outstanding.
▪ However, in many cases the parties may create a binding contract by agreement on the three matters already identified.
▪ Explain whether this is a legally binding contract and whether or not Wilson Decorators must supply materials and receive £800. 4.
▪ The successful bidder is under a binding contract to purchase the relevant property.
▪ In that way, you're tying the supplier to a legally binding contract.
▪ In general there was the invocation of one or more deities to bear witness that a binding contract was being undertaken.
lucrative
▪ It wants the money spent on public infrastructure, providing lucrative contracts for business.
▪ Fife Symington, pleaded innocent Wednesday to federal charges that they rigged a bid for a lucrative state contract.
▪ When the Tories crested to power in 1710, Barber landed some lucrative contracts.
▪ At the last minute, Aki tells her, the university settled and the two coaches signed lucrative new contracts.
▪ The lobbies of Baghdad's five-star hotels are packed with businessmen fighting over lucrative contracts.
▪ They had received some excellent, lucrative contracts.
▪ Turturro plays the eponymous Fink, an avantgarde New York playwright who accepts a lucrative Hollywood contract.
▪ Swan was the favourite to secure the lucrative contract until the yard was placed in receivership in May.
new
▪ In April, the company unexpectedly obtained new contracts which might have made it possible for it to keep him in work.
▪ The new contract, which Laws negotiated with the board, also provides additional compensation that is separate from the base salary.
▪ Brian Horton says the new contracts don't mean that he can't be sacked.
▪ Tomorrow, talks are scheduled to begin on a new musicians contract to replace the collective bargaining agreement that expired Friday.
▪ This starts with the date that employment under the new contract begins.
▪ Preliminary talks on a new contract for Elvis Grbac apparently went well.
▪ Paul Loughlin has agreed a new two year contract.
social
▪ So the social contract is selfishly motivated; it comes about through our rational ability to perceive a personal advantage from it.
▪ You scientists, you upholders of the social contract, gloat like other mortals when somebody makes a mistake?
▪ But neither does it depend on some higher authority or a social contract.
▪ An independent economic woman was definitely and explicitly not part of the concept of our social contract as its formulators envisioned it.
▪ We would will this as part of the social contract because our own selfishness would enable us to see its necessity.
▪ The introduction of a social contract was what made raw capitalism work, he argued.
▪ It is as an alternative to these theories that Rawls champions the social contract.
▪ Rahma in exchange for freedom is the social contract that the new religion proposed to the citizens of Mecca.
■ NOUN
award
▪ Both the 1997 Glenigan and government figures for contract awards and orders show a significant rise in work won.
employment
▪ A growing feature of the employment contract over the years has been the provision of occupational pension schemes for retirement and sickness.
▪ She has maintained that the charges were being brought in retribution for leaving her employment contract early.
▪ If the employer requires protection he should have the foresight to include an express covenant in the employment contract.
▪ When an employee is working without a formal employment contract, the terms of an employee handbook may be contractually binding.
▪ Employees who opt for the scheme will be expected to revert to their former employment contract once their children reach 14.
▪ Price signed an employment contract, promising to continue managing the Mutual Series funds for at least five years.
▪ Intellectual property: Restrictive intellectual property clauses in employment contracts or restrictive covenants could force the brightest free workers to walk.
▪ He had a written employment contract, but it did not refer to his place of work.
marriage
▪ Society lays down the basic rules of the marriage contract.
▪ On 15 May 1679 the marriage contract was signed at Lisbon.
▪ In the event, as historians have observed, the spark was trivial - a man's signature on his marriage contract.
▪ These are intimately bound up together, not least because of the way in which the marriage contract is defined.
▪ Studies show that a typical marriage contract accords a couple 170 rights and responsibilities.
▪ This provision could be written into the marriage contract.
▪ The marriage contract is currently the most ambiguous of contracts.
research
▪ Last year, the mechanism for fixing up research contracts was streamlined.
term
▪ Others include relating pay to performance ... and the introduction of fixed term contracts.
▪ He also said senior ranks would be employed on fixed term contracts, and their pay would be performance related.
▪ I've had a very short term contract for each show.
▪ Non-whites are, overall, more likely than whites to be in fixed term contract posts.
▪ Will you be looking for more of these longer term contracts?
▪ Repeated talks with manager John Lyall still leave a new long term contract unsigned.
■ VERB
agree
▪ Mr Quinn said he and Mr Neal had agreed a contract to refer work between the firms.
▪ Two players agreed to new contracts Wednesday.
▪ Thus, the couple had agreed upon a simple contract.
▪ Right-hander Darren Dreifort agreed to a one-year contract.
▪ Therefore providers ought to be able to agree to contracts for these services at a lower price.
▪ What happens if the union and the school board can not agree on a contract?
▪ Neale, 38, has agreed a three-year contract and takes up his duties on March 1.
▪ Following his second season, Karros agreed to a contract worth $ 6. 15 million over three seasons.
break
▪ Farmers say supermarkets put them under pressure to sell at rock bottom prices-and regularly break contracts.
▪ But these solicitors often break the law, and that's grounds for you to break the contract.
▪ And I am also not some one to break contracts.
▪ Now the masses are beginning to feel that the state has broken the social contract.
▪ Many Whigs took the line that James had been deposed because he had broken his original contract with the people.
▪ Last week, the district board postponed a decision on whether to break the contract.
▪ Companies are not regarded as individuals under the Act and are therefore unable to break contracts once signed.
▪ How can a teacher break a contract?
conclude
▪ A court or tribunal will be reluctant to conclude that your contract has been frustrated.
▪ However, by far the majority of private company acquisitions are concluded by private contract.
enter
▪ It will be entering into contracts to both buy and sell specific currencies on or between specific dates.
▪ After it enters the contract, the value changes as rates fluctuate.
▪ Where the receiver enters into a new contract this will be binding on the company.
▪ Traders must consider domestic and foreign exchange control regulations when entering into contracts and seeking settlement.
▪ Teachers who enter with new contracts of employment after the Act expires will not, however, be covered.
▪ The second agency had warned him he was entering into a contract by giving his credit card number.
exchange
▪ She had to go through with it now, as she had exchanged contracts on the house.
▪ One person close to Disney said the two parties have exchanged contracts and expect to close the transaction this month.
▪ Don't exchange contracts until you and your client are satisfied on every point and in particular about adoption of roads and drains.
▪ Once the hammer has fallen, the successful bidder for a house must exchange contracts immediately and pay a deposit.
▪ Every buyer, lessee and mortgagee of property in or in the vicinity of a coalmining area should search before exchanging contracts.
▪ Once you have exchanged contracts, the countdown to completion and the day of your move begins.
▪ In effect this stage is equivalent to exchange of contracts in a sale by private treaty, with completion four weeks later.
▪ If Guy had only exchanged contracts last week, he'd organised himself with impressive speed.
negotiate
▪ There is a typical example among writers, seeking to protect copyright and to negotiate general contract conditions.
▪ He fancied himself as something of an impresario, and had some experience negotiating contracts with Hollywood studios.
▪ This doctrine was acceptable where two powerful companies were negotiating a contract in a free market, but contractually weaker persons suffered.
▪ School boards get so busy negotiating contracts and avoiding layoffs that they forget about the quality of their schools.
▪ This is where hard bargaining at the time that you negotiated your service contract could pay off handsomely.
▪ But then, the Mob would never negotiate a great contract.
▪ Here, International Software negotiates contracts with software vendors and ensures that customers get a good price.
▪ Like Jody, Aki is also in the midst of negotiating a new contract.
offer
▪ Middlesbrough will offer new contracts in the summer to full back Jimmy Phillips and midfield player Mark Proctor.
▪ She sang at clubs and was offered a recording contract by a small independent label.
▪ We never offer recording contracts as prizes, although we are constantly asked to do so.
▪ Maybe if Carter was elected he would offer a social contract.
▪ Apparently he'd been offered a record contract which the Fish had turned down, saying they weren't good enough yet.
▪ Miami is offering a big contract extension to keep him from leaving campus.
▪ Employers may offer such contracts with a view to making them permanent once they are satisfied that you have completed the course successfully.
▪ It was the Jazz again, and they offered a 10-day contract.
renew
▪ He has played in Sicily for the past few years and has decided to renew his contract.
▪ San Francisco first hired the firm in 1993, and recently renewed its three-year contract.
▪ As a result, firms employing them need to recruit frequently to replace those who choose not to renew their contracts.
▪ Gordon did not renew his contract, either.
▪ But I believe it is better to call a halt now at a point when the option to renew contracts has arisen.
▪ I've decided not to renew my contract.
▪ Half our clients have already told us they won't renew their contracts.
secure
▪ During the year we renegotiated the Rustenburg agreement securing this important contract into the next century.
▪ Miller and his colleagues worked really hard to secure the Worldwide Plaza contract: It was very important to Mosher.
▪ Swan was the favourite to secure the lucrative contract until the yard was placed in receivership in May.
▪ What else would you expect from Lisa Leslie, who has secured a modeling contract as a side gig?
▪ Hence they were predisposed to secure contracts under the state scheme which preserved their freedom.
▪ These items should include the salary group classed as permanent, as temporary, or as services secured on a contract basis.
▪ Why should they study when they imagine a future secured by a seven-figure contract?
sign
▪ The striker joins recent recruits Paul Lemon and Michael Smith and all three have been signed on short-term contracts.
▪ The lead police detective signed a contract with a television movie production company.
▪ Braxton signed a recording contract with Arista Records in 1974 and moved to Woodstock.
▪ Clients sign contracts to become participants and agree to adhere to a rigorous schedule.
▪ He didn't know that Reichmann had already rented out two of the four towers before he had signed the contract.
▪ Perkins liked Seals enough to sign him to a contract.
▪ Each member of the troupe had to sign the formidable contract.
▪ He signed the contract to produce his atlas in 1930.
terminate
▪ Despite calls of if Rentokil won, Rank would terminate the contract, Rentokil went on to a 7-O victory.
▪ Thomas could terminate the contract and become a free agent.
▪ The employment protection legislation operates to restrict the grounds on which an employer can terminate the contract of employment with impunity.
▪ The board terminated his contract a few months later.
▪ Bosses are said to have decided to terminate his contract on December 31.
▪ As the administrative receiver is the agent of the company, his appointment does not terminate the company's contracts.
▪ Alternatively, the customer or supplier may look on the purported transfer as an opportunity to terminate or renegotiate the contract.
▪ Such a threat is credible only if carrying it out would impose little loss on the person terminating the contract.
win
▪ Last year, it won large outsourcing contracts worth more than Pounds 700m-mostly in the public sector.
▪ Together, they won a landmark union contract for better pay and working conditions.
▪ And that's no different from the uncertainty over winning the multi-million contract with Tashenu's.
▪ The region has won a £3 million contract awarded by Birmingham City Council to repair and redecorate 7078 council homes.
▪ Project sources say any one of the half dozen is capable of winning the contract.
▪ Both have won a contract with the International Model Agency of London.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a binding contract/promise/agreement etc
▪ An offer is something which is clearly intended if accepted to form a binding agreement.
▪ But Equitable was set on the Halifax deal and has signed a binding contract for the first half of its proposals.
▪ However, in many cases the parties may create a binding contract by agreement on the three matters already identified.
▪ If they can come to a binding agreement, the prisoners will both profess their innocence and be sentenced to two years.
▪ In general there was the invocation of one or more deities to bear witness that a binding contract was being undertaken.
▪ It was held there that the parties had made a binding contract, albeit with the price still outstanding.
▪ The successful bidder is under a binding contract to purchase the relevant property.
close a deal/sale/contract etc
▪ He talks and talks, compromises and compromises, until he closes a deal.
▪ I enjoy closing a deal 5a.
▪ I told her not to come back until she closed a deal.
▪ In the heart of the city, Bob Scott is further still from closing a deal.
▪ Many will offer low-interest loans, tax breaks or whatever else it takes to close a deal.
▪ Why, then, are some salespeople reluctant to close a sale?
conclude an agreement/treaty/contract etc
▪ As an alternative to this bloc policy Khrushchev offered to conclude treaties of non-aggression and friendship with the states concerned.
▪ States which did not consider a customs union to be necessary could conclude agreements with the customs union on a free-trade zone.
enter into an agreement/contract etc
▪ Brunell and the team will enter into contract negotiations next week.
▪ David Holton and Hughes already have entered into an agreement with the local state attorney to settle criminal charges.
▪ How different it might have been if Edelman had proposed that politicians enter into a Contract With Children.
▪ It will be entering into contracts to both buy and sell specific currencies on or between specific dates.
▪ Similarly, business has to enter into agreements.
▪ Traders must consider domestic and foreign exchange control regulations when entering into contracts and seeking settlement.
▪ We have entered into agreements in good faith.
exchange contracts
▪ A good resolution before you exchange contracts would be to stand back and have a really long look at the wood!
▪ Accordingly, no account is taken of unrealised profits or losses arising on such forward exchange contracts.
▪ Don't exchange contracts until you and your client are satisfied on every point and in particular about adoption of roads and drains.
▪ Every buyer, lessee and mortgagee of property in or in the vicinity of a coalmining area should search before exchanging contracts.
▪ Once the hammer has fallen, the successful bidder for a house must exchange contracts immediately and pay a deposit.
▪ Once you have exchanged contracts, the countdown to completion and the day of your move begins.
▪ One person close to Disney said the two parties have exchanged contracts and expect to close the transaction this month.
▪ She had to go through with it now, as she had exchanged contracts on the house.
honour a promise/contract/agreement etc
▪ Moreover, Gosteleradio claimed that Interfax had never honoured an agreement to remit 50 percent of its earnings to Radio Moscow.
sign an agreement/contract/treaty etc
▪ Clients sign contracts to become participants and agree to adhere to a rigorous schedule.
▪ It took more than a month to find and sign a contract with another company to complete the remaining work.
▪ Kiptanui rushed off, saying he was going to make Kimeli sign a contract.
▪ Paup had wanted to sign a contract extension with Green Bay during the 1994 season, but the Packers never approached him.
▪ Pre-season David Campese signed a contract with commercial broadcaster Channel Ten.
▪ The lead police detective signed a contract with a television movie production company.
▪ You must stop your ears whenever you are asked to sign a treaty selling your home.
tear up an agreement/a contract etc
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Baltimore officials have confirmed that Olson will sign a two-year contract with the club.
▪ My contract guarantees me a 15% pay raise every year.
▪ My contract says I have to work 35 hours per week.
▪ The company was prosecuted for breaking the contract.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A new service could set up by gaining enough contracts with major customers of the old service to take over.
▪ Future contracts will cost more or less, depending on trends in tuition costs, Cantor said.
▪ His contract of employment contained a restraint of trade clause.
▪ Many EconoPage customers had several years left on their contracts.
▪ One of the largest new contracts is a £9 million deal with the City of Westminster to provide a school meals service.
▪ These individuals, known as locals, are vital for the liquidity of the markets in the contracts traded in the pits.
▪ Two San Diego firms are major subcontractors vying for the ship contract.
▪ Union contracts often specifically protect workers who are physically able to work.
II.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
out
▪ In addition, much of the grounds maintenance is now contracted out, giving custodians more time to spend with visitors.
▪ When these findings attracted media attention, Mayor Lindsay appointed a commission to look into the option of contracting out garbage collection.
▪ Services can be contracted out or turned over to the private sector.
▪ A public employee union in Michigan sued to block the state from contracting out job training for welfare recipients.
▪ Sub-contracting or contracting out was but one of a number of cost-cutting strategies.
▪ Some of the work, he said, is contracted out.
■ NOUN
business
▪ An executive order to revoke federal contracts of businesses that hire illegal workers.
disease
▪ Twenty-nine thousand people contracted the disease 226 in 1955, including almost four thousand in the Massachusetts epidemic that summer and fall.
▪ Will employers be tempted to screen potential employees to protect themselves from lawsuits afterwards from workers who contract such diseases?
▪ He said children were no more likely to contract the disease than are adults.
▪ Why the animals have contracted the disease remains unclear.
▪ Some youngsters who contracted the disease had fallen from their bikes, but this was nothing more than a tragic coincidence.
▪ Never forget horses can not contract foot-and-mouth disease.
economy
▪ Prices are spiralling, the economy is contracting and jobs are disappearing even faster than the emigrants are leaving.
▪ But the country's economy is contracting, and Chernobyl is no longer seen as vital to its energy needs.
▪ But this year, the economy may contract.
▪ Down the line the rest of the oil and loan dependent economy was contracting.
firm
▪ During and after the war, Mr Packard co-founded an association to get more defense contracts for West Coast firms.
▪ When he formed his own contracting firm, his partners were some of the best-known politicians and railway men in the country.
▪ The district contracts with 57 outside firms and has only 12 staff attorneys.
virus
▪ Then his horses contracted a virus.
▪ When he tried to return in 1992, several players said they were concerned about contracting the virus by playing against him.
▪ He does not know when he contracted the virus.
■ VERB
expand
▪ The sealant would expand or contract by that amount as the building shifted.
▪ Firstly, this makes it difficult to decide where best to expand or contract the firm's resources.
▪ His mouth never seemed to alter in shape; rather it expanded and contracted proportionally when he spoke.
▪ But what would happen if and when the universe stopped expanding and began to contract?
▪ Metal pendulum rods expanded with heat, contracted when cooled and beat out seconds at different tempos, depending on the temperature.
▪ However, as we said earlier, this stock may expand or contract depending upon the net flow of newly issued bills.
sign
▪ Would Johnson be wearing purple Nikes and signing seven-figure contracts if it were not for Lewis?
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a binding contract/promise/agreement etc
▪ An offer is something which is clearly intended if accepted to form a binding agreement.
▪ But Equitable was set on the Halifax deal and has signed a binding contract for the first half of its proposals.
▪ However, in many cases the parties may create a binding contract by agreement on the three matters already identified.
▪ If they can come to a binding agreement, the prisoners will both profess their innocence and be sentenced to two years.
▪ In general there was the invocation of one or more deities to bear witness that a binding contract was being undertaken.
▪ It was held there that the parties had made a binding contract, albeit with the price still outstanding.
▪ The successful bidder is under a binding contract to purchase the relevant property.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Dr Chalmers is trying to find out how many people may have contracted the disease in her area.
▪ He contracted the disease through an insect bite.
▪ In the 1980s, the economy contracted and many small businesses failed.
▪ Metal contracts as it becomes cool.
▪ Orwell contracted tuberculosis during the war and eventually died from the disease.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Firstly, this makes it difficult to decide where best to expand or contract the firm's resources.
▪ The city of Chicago has contracted to purchase three city transit buses that will be powered by fuel cells.
▪ The Housing Authority of Louisville quit contracting with one of its resident management corporations because the corporation began to cheat.
▪ The key message is that kids cook quick - which is not to say that they immediately contract the disease.
▪ When she contracted polio, which paralyzed her left leg, she was told she would never walk again.
▪ When we work a muscle we cause it to contract and become bigger.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Contract

Contract \Con"tract\ (k[o^]n"tr[a^]kt), 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.

Contract

Contract \Con*tract"\ (k[o^]n*tr[a^]kt"), a. [L. contractus, p. p.] Contracted; affianced; betrothed. [Obs.]
--Shak.

Contract

Contract \Con"tract\ (k[o^]n"tr[a^]kt),

  1. Contracted; as, a contract ver


  2. --Goodwin.

Contract

Contract \Con*tract"\ (k[o^]n*tr[a^]kt"), 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.

Contract

Contract \Con*tract"\ (k[o^]n*tr[a^]kt"), 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.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
contract

late 14c., "make narrow, draw together;" early 15c. "make an agreement;" from Middle French contracter, from Latin contractus, past participle of contrahere "to draw together, combine, make an agreement" (see contract (n.)). Related: Contracted; contracting.

contract

early 14c., from Old French contract (Modern French contrat), from Latin contractus "a contract, agreement," from past participle of contrahere "to draw together," metaphorically, "to make a bargain," from com- "together" (see com-) + trahere "to draw" (see tract (n.1)). U.S. underworld sense of "arrangement to kill someone" first recorded 1940.

Wiktionary
contract

Etymology 1

  1. 1 (context obsolete English) Contracted; affianced; betrothed. 2 (context obsolete English) Not abstract; concrete. n. An agreement between two or more parties, to perform a specific job or work order, often temporary or of fixed duration and usually governed by a written agreement. Etymology 2

    v

  2. 1 (context ambitransitive English) To draw together or nearer; to shorten, narrow, or lessen. 2 (context grammar English) To shorten by omitting a letter or letters or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one. 3 (context transitive English) To enter into a contract with. (rfex) 4 (context transitive English) To enter into, with mutual obligations; to make a bargain or covenant for. 5 (context intransitive English) To make an agreement or contract; to covenant; to agree; to bargain. 6 (context transitive English) To bring on; to incur; to acquire. 7 (context transitive English) To gain or acquire (an illness). 8 To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit. 9 To betroth; to affiance.

WordNet
contract
  1. n. a binding agreement between two or more persons that is enforceable by law

  2. (contract bridge) the highest bid becomes the contract setting the number of tricks that the bidder must make [syn: declaration]

  3. a variety of bridge in which the bidder receives points toward game only for the number of tricks he bid [syn: contract bridge]

contract
  1. v. enter into a contractual arrangement [syn: undertake]

  2. engage by written agreement; "They signed two new pitchers for the next season" [syn: sign, sign on, sign up]

  3. squeeze or press together; "she compressed her lips"; "the spasm contracted the muscle" [syn: compress, constrict, squeeze, compact, press]

  4. become smaller or draw together; "The fabric shrank"; "The balloon shrank" [syn: shrink] [ant: expand, 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 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] [ant: elaborate]

Wikipedia
Contract (disambiguation)

A contract is a promise, or agreement made of a set of promises, that is recognized by the law.

Contract may also refer to:

Contract (Law & Order: Criminal Intent)

"Contract" is a seventh season episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Contract (2008 film)

Contract is a 2008 bollywood, parallel cinema, in the backdrop of terrorism written and directed by Ram Gopal Varma. Starring Adhvik Mahajan, and Zakir Hussain in pivotal roles, the film received mixed reviews.

Contract (1985 film)

Contract is a 1985 Soviet/ Russian animation based on the short science fiction story Company Store (1958) by Robert Silverberg and directed by Vladimir Tarasov. The song I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby is used in the animation.

Contract (2012 film)

Contract is a 2012 Ghanaian film produced by Yvonne Okoro and directed by Shirley Frimpong-Manso, starring Hlomla Dandala, Joseph Benjamin and Yvonne Okoro. It received six nominations at the 9th Africa Movie Academy Awards including: Best Director, Achievement In Screenplay, Best Actor In A Leading Role and Best Actress In A Leading Role.

Contract

A contract is a voluntary arrangement between two or more parties that is enforceable at law as a binding legal agreement. Contract is a branch of the law of obligations in jurisdictions of the civil law tradition.

A contract arises when the parties agree that there is an agreement. Formation of a contract generally requires an offer, acceptance, consideration, and a mutual intent to be bound. Each party to a contract must have capacity to enter the agreement. Minors, intoxicated persons, and those under a mental affliction may have insufficient capacity to enter a contract. Some types of contracts may require formalities, such as a memorialization in writing.

Usage examples of "contract".

Boeing or Airbus may or may not install these items for the airline, depending on the contract.

She actually remembered that contract, a cargo of rosilk, to be sold on Akra Leuke.

Great numbers of the Alani, appeased by the punctual discharge of the engagements which Aurelian had contracted with them, relinquished their booty and captives, and quietly retreated to their own deserts, beyond the Phasis.

CHAPTER XIX Occupation at Athens--Mount Pentilicus--We descend into the Caverns-- Return to Athens--A Greek Contract of Marriage--Various Athenian and Albanian Superstitions--Effect of their Impression on the Genius of the Poet During his residence at Athens, Lord Byron made almost daily excursions on horseback, chiefly for exercise and to see the localities of celebrated spots.

Beatles, albums see albums by the Beatles Apple Group contract, 569, 580 avant-garde, 231, 234, 329, 372 Beatlemania, xii, 73, 95, 171, 186 biographies, xii break-up, 576-88 at the Cavern, 80-83 as celebrities, 128 changes in show business, 139 disbanded, 553 dislike of image, 303-4 dispute about Allen Klein, 547-9 and drugs, 184-92, 198-9, 347, 378, first record, 37 formed from the Quarry Men, 52 and Greek Island, 377-80 in Hamburg, clothes, 71, 76, 101 at the Indra, 57-8 at the Kaiserkeller, 59-63 deported, 73 houses, 167-70 and the Maharishi, 396-404 Mayfair flat, 102 modern music, 330-1 origin of name, 52 recordings rejected by Decca, 89 sleeve design for, Abbey Road, Sgt.

In Aldrovanda it appears to be the basal parts alone which contract and carry with them the broad, thin margins of the lobes.

They were appeals or writs of error to federal courts where recovery was sought upon municipal or county bonds or some other form of contracts, the validity of which had been sustained by decisions of the Supreme Court of a State prior to their execution, and had been denied by the same court after their issue or making.

Perhaps it had been with this hope already at the back of her mind that she had invited her school-friend, Arabella Haverhill, who had contracted such a brilliant match, to stand as godmother to her infant daughter.

He soon after went to Buffalo, and contracted for a boat to be built, with two of his Archimedean screws for propulsion by steam.

I am convinced that awful magistrate my lord-mayor contracts a good deal of that reverence which attends him through the year, by the several pageants which precede his pomp.

The reader will understand, therefore, that when the genius and his mate proposed to start on Macpherson, they were laying out a capacious contract for the cast-iron canvasser, and were taking a step which could only have been inspired by a morbid craving for excitement, aided by the influence of backblock whisky.

Ostensibly, they were a Bahraini engineer and an Omani accountant heading for Labuan on contract to the natural gas industry, and that was what Suleiman was filling in.

Not that anyone would care what damage a Batcher picked up for bounty took, so long as she was alivestipulating that the contract called for it.

Lockheed-engineered National Security State approved massive latex uber-condom, a super-project of such immensity as to call for the unlikely marriage of the conceptual vision of Christo and the sleazy contracting gusto of Bechtel, Inc?

A few employees worked directly for the federal government, but most people were on the payroll of Bechtel, who had the facilities management contract.