contract

v. create a formal agreement; get; make smaller; reduce; become smaller

n. agreement, pact, covenant; (Slang) arrangement with a hired assassin to kill a person

A contract is a legally binding exchange of promises or agreement between parties that the law will enforce. Contract law is based on the Latin phrase pacta sunt servanda (pacts must be kept). Breach of contract is recognised by the law and remedies can be provided. Almost everyone makes contracts every day. Sometimes written contracts are required, e.g., when buying a house. However the vast majority of contracts can be and are made orally, like buying a law text book, or a coffee at a shop. Contract law can be classified, as is habitual in civil law systems, as part of a general law of obligations (along with tort, unjust enrichment or restitution).
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Noun
1. a binding agreement between two or more persons that is enforceable by law
(hypernym) written agreement
(hyponym) adhesion contract, contract of adhesion
(part-meronym) arbitration clause
(derivation) sign, sign on, sign up
(class) broken, unkept
2. (contract bridge) the highest bid becomes the contract setting the number of tricks that the bidder must make
(synonym) declaration
(hypernym) bid, bidding
(part-holonym) bridge
3. a variety of bridge in which the bidder receives points toward game only for the number of tricks he bid
(synonym) contract bridge
(hypernym) bridge
Verb
1. enter into a contractual arrangement
(synonym) undertake
(hypernym) promise, assure
(hyponym) stipulate
2. engage by written agreement; "They signed two new pitchers for the next season"
(synonym) sign, sign on, sign up
(hypernym) hire, engage, employ
(hyponym) contract out
3. squeeze or press together; "she compressed her lips"; "the spasm contracted the muscle"
(synonym) compress, constrict, squeeze, compact, press
(hypernym) tighten
(hyponym) choke, strangle
(derivation) contraction, muscular contraction, muscle contraction
4. become smaller or draw together; "The fabric shrank"; "The balloon shrank"
(synonym) shrink
(antonym) expand, spread out
(hypernym) decrease, diminish, lessen, fall
(hyponym) flex
(derivation) contraction
5. be stricken by an illness, fall victim to an illness; "He got AIDS"; "She came down with pneumonia"; "She took a chill"
(synonym) take, get
(hypernym) sicken, come down
(hyponym) catch
(verb-group) catch
(derivation) catching, contracting
6. make smaller; "The heat contracted the woollen garment"
(hypernym) shrink, reduce
(hyponym) purse, wrinkle
(derivation) contraction
7. compress or concentrate; "Congress condensed the three-year plan into a six-month plan"
(synonym) condense, concentrate
(hypernym) change, alter, modify
(verb-group) condense
(derivation) contraction
8. make or become more narrow or restricted; "The selection was narrowed"; "The road narrowed"
(synonym) narrow
(hypernym) change
(hyponym) bottleneck
(derivation) contraction
9. reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened"
(synonym) abridge, foreshorten, abbreviate, shorten, cut, reduce
(antonym) elaborate, lucubrate, expatiate, exposit, enlarge, flesh out, expand, expound, dilate
(hypernym) decrease, lessen, minify
(hyponym) bowdlerize, bowdlerise, expurgate, castrate, shorten
(verb-group) edit, cut, edit out
(derivation) contraction

n. contract, agreement; pact, treaty

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

(v. i.)
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.
  

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

(n.)
To enter into, with mutual obligations; to make a bargain or covenant for.
  

(n.)
To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit.
  

(n.)
To draw together or nearer; to reduce to a less compass; to shorten, narrow, or lessen; as, to contract one's sphere of action.
  

(n.)
To bring on; to incur; to acquire; as, to contract a habit; to contract a debt; to contract a disease.
  

(n.)
To betroth; to affiance.
  

(n.)
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.
  

(n.)
The act of formally betrothing a man and woman.
  

(n.)
A formal writing which contains the agreement of parties, with the terms and conditions, and which serves as a proof of the obligation.
  

(a.)
Contracted; as, a contract verb.
  

(a.)
Contracted; affianced; betrothed.