Contract definition
To contract for a new car.
An example of contract is a loan agreement between buyers and sellers of a car.
An example of contract is an agreement between two people to be married.
An example of contract is a child getting lice from a classmate.
An example of contract is hiring someone to do plumbing work in a house.
Put out a contract on the mobster's life.
Contract for garbage collection.
The pupils of the patient's eyes contracted.
We contracted him to fix the roof.
Cold contracts metals.
The mafia boss put a contract out on the man who betrayed him.
The word "cannot" is often contracted into "can't".
To contract for carrying the mail.
She contracted the habit of smoking in her teens.
To contract a debt.
Contract a marriage.
Contract obligations; contract a serious illness.
To contract a disease, a debt, etc.
- to assign (a job) by contract; specif., to subcontract
- to withdraw from a contract or agreement
Idioms and Phrasal Verbs
Origin of contract
- Middle English from Latin contractus past participle of contrahere to draw together, make a contract com- com- trahere to draw
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- From Middle English, from Middle French contracter, from Latin contractum, past participle of contrahere (“to bring together, to bring about, to conclude a bargain”), from con- (“with, together”) + trahere (“to draw, to pull”). the verb developed after the noun, and originally meant only "draw together"; the sense "make a contract with" developed later.
From Wiktionary
- From Middle English, from Old French contract, from Latin contractum, past participle of contrahere (“to bring together, to bring about, to conclude a bargain”), from con- (“with, together”) + trahere (“to draw, to pull”).
From Wiktionary