CONTRACTING • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Contracting

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/kˈɑntræktɪŋ/ Listen

noun

contracting n. The act or process of acquiring an infectious disease; contraction; as, the contracting of a serious illness can be financially catastrophic.

Synonyms: catching.

verb

Contract v. t. (past & past part. contracted; pres. part. contracting)

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."

2.

To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit. "Thou didst contract and purse thy brow."

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." "Such behavior we contract by having much conversed with persons of high station."

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." "Many persons... had contracted marriage within the degrees of consanguinity... prohibited by law."

5.

To betroth; to affiance. "The truth is, she and I, long since contracted, Are now so sure, that nothing can dissolve us."

6.

(Gram.) To shorten by omitting a letter or letters or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one.

Synonyms: To shorten; abridge; epitomize; narrow; lessen; condense; reduce; confine; incur; assume.

Contract 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."

2.

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

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Etymology of 'Contracting'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Contracting" Quotes from Famous Books

... Inhale a complete breath and retain same. (3) Extend the arms straight in front of you, letting them somewhat limp and relaxed, with only sufficient nerve force to hold them out. (4) Slowly draw the hands back towards the shoulders gradually, contracting the muscles and putting force into them, so that when they reach the shoulders the fists will be so tightly clenched that a tremulous motion is felt. (5) Then keeping the muscles tense push the fists slowly out and then draw them back rapidly (still tense) several times. ...

— The Doctrine and Practice of Yoga • A. P. Mukerji

... kingdom of Bohemia was abandoned to inquisitions and executions; all liberties were suppressed, the nobles were decimated, ministers and teachers were burned or beheaded, and Protestants of every rank, age, and condition were prohibited from acting as guardians to children, or making wills, or contracting marriages with Catholics, or holding any office of trust and emolument. They were outlawed as felons, and disfranchised as infidels. The halls of justice were deserted, the Muses accompanied the learned in their melancholy flight, and all that remained ...

— Beacon Lights of History, Volume VIII • John Lord

... another under the present Constitution. Larger and more varied powers were conferred upon the common Government for the purpose of insuring "a more perfect union"—not for that of destroying or impairing the integrity of the contracting members. ...

— The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government • Jefferson Davis

... piece of business at a neighbouring tavern, where the Yankee—Major Whitlaw—ordered a "brandy-smash" for himself and two "gin-slings" for his companions, (which they civilly declined, to his intense amazement,) the contracting parties separated. ...

— The Golden Dream - Adventures in the Far West • R.M. Ballantyne

... knowledge, and of an inexhaustible (p. 061) capacity of spinning out verse, never rising much above, nor falling much below mediocrity, which, if mere quantity were the only element to be considered, would have justified him in contracting to produce enough to constitute of itself a national literature. As he invariably proved himself entirely destitute of common sense in his ordinary conduct, he was led to fancy that he was not merely a man of ability, but a man of genius; and during the whole of his life he perpetually ...

— James Fenimore Cooper - American Men of Letters • Thomas R. Lounsbury

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