CONTRACT

Definitions

1. 1. To draw together or nearer; to reduce to a less compass; to shorten, narrow, or lesen; as, to contract one's shpere of action. In all things desuetude doth contract and narrow our faculties. Dr. H. More.
2. 2. To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit. Thou didst contract and purse thy brow. Shak.
3. 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 statiSwift.
4. 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. 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. 6. To shorten by omitting a letter or letters or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one.