Part 520

2. To make an agreement; to covenant; to agree; to bargain; as, to contract for carrying the mail.

Con"tract (k&obreve;n"trăkt), a. Contracted; as, a contract verb. Goodwin.

Con*tract" (k&obreve;n*trăkt"), a. [L. contractus, p. p.] Contracted; affianced; betrothed. [Obs.] Shak.

Con"tract (k&obreve;n"trăkt), 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.

Con*tract"ed (k&obreve;n*trăkt"&ebreve;d), a. 1. Drawn together; shrunken; wrinkled; narrow; as, a contracted brow; a contracted noun.

2. Narrow; illiberal; selfish; as, a contracted mind; contracted views.

3. Bargained for; betrothed; as, a contracted peace.

Inquire me out contracted bachelors. Shak.

Con*tract"ed*ness, n. The state of being contracted; narrowness; meanness; selfishness.

Con*tract`i*bil"i*ty (?), n. Capability of being contracted; quality of being contractible; as, the contractibility and dilatability of air. Arbuthnot.

Con*tract"i*ble (?), a. Capable of contraction.

Small air bladders distable and contractible. Arbuthnot.

Con*tract"i*ble*ness, n. Contractibility.

Con*tract"ile (?), a. [Cf. F. contractile.] tending to contract; having the power or property of contracting, or of shrinking into shorter or smaller dimensions; as, the contractile tissues.

The heart's contractile force. H. Brooke.

Each cilium seems to be composed of contractile substance. Hixley.

Contractile vacuole (Zo÷l.), a pulsating cavity in the interior of a protozoan, supposed to be excretory in function. There may be one, two, or more.

Con`trac*til"i*ty (?), n. 1. The quality or property by which bodies shrink or contract.

2. (Physiol.) The power possessed by the fibers of living muscle of contracting or shortening.

&fist; When subject to the will, as in the muscles of locomotion, such power is called voluntary contractility; when not controlled by the will, as in the muscles of the heart, it is involuntary contractility.

Con*trac"tion (?), n. [L. contractio: cf. F. contraction.] 1. The act or process of contracting, shortening, or shrinking; the state of being contracted; as, contraction of the heart, of the pupil of the eye, or of a tendon; the contraction produced by cold.

2. (Math.) The process of shortening an operation.

3. The act of incurring or becoming subject to, as liabilities, obligation, debts, etc.; the process of becoming subject to; as, the contraction of a disease.

4. Something contracted or abbreviated, as a word or phrase; -- as, plenipo for plenipotentiary; crim. con. for criminal conversation, etc.