Contract

9 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Contract \Con"tract\ (k[o^]n"tr[a^]kt), a.
     Contracted; as, a contract verb. --Goodwin.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Contract \Con*tract"\ (k[o^]n*tr[a^]kt"), a. [L. contractus, p.
     p.]
     Contracted; affianced; betrothed. [Obs.] --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Contract \Con"tract\ (k[o^]n"tr[a^]kt), 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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A formal writing which contains the agreement of parties,
        with the terms and conditions, and which serves as a proof
        of the obligation.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. The act of formally betrothing a man and woman.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              This is the the night of the contract. --Longwellow.
  
     Syn: Covenant; agreement; compact; stipulation; bargain;
          arrangement; obligation. See {Covenant}.
          [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Contract \Con*tract"\ (k[o^]n*tr[a^]kt"), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
     {Contracted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Contracting}.] [L. contractus,
     p. p. of contrahere to contract; con- + trahere to draw: cf.
     F. contracter. See {Trace}, and cf. {Contract}, n.]
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              In all things desuetude doth contract and narrow our
              faculties.                            --Dr. H. More.
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     2. To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Thou didst contract and purse thy brow. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To bring on; to incur; to acquire; as, to contract a
        habit; to contract a debt; to contract a disease.
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              Each from each contract new strength and light.
                                                    --Pope.
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              Such behavior we contract by having much conversed
              with persons of high station.         --Swift.
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     4. To enter into, with mutual obligations; to make a bargain
        or covenant for.
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              We have contracted an inviolable amity, peace, and
              lague with the aforesaid queen.       --Hakluyt.
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              Many persons . . . had contracted marriage within
              the degrees of consanguinity . . . prohibited by
              law.                                  --Strype.
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     5. To betroth; to affiance.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The truth is, she and I, long since contracted,
              Are now so sure, that nothing can dissolve us.
                                                    --Shak.
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     6. (Gram.) To shorten by omitting a letter or letters or by
        reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one.
  
     Syn: To shorten; abridge; epitomize; narrow; lessen;
          condense; reduce; confine; incur; assume.
          [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Contract \Con*tract"\ (k[o^]n*tr[a^]kt"), 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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Years contracting to a moment.        --Wordsworth.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To make an agreement; to covenant; to agree; to bargain;
        as, to contract for carrying the mail.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  contract
       n 1: a binding agreement between two or more persons that is
            enforceable by law
       2: (contract bridge) the highest bid becomes the contract
          setting the number of tricks that the bidder must make
          [syn: {declaration}]
       3: a variety of bridge in which the bidder receives points
          toward game only for the number of tricks he bid [syn: {contract
          bridge}]
       v 1: enter into a contractual arrangement [syn: {undertake}]
       2: engage by written agreement; "They signed two new pitchers
          for the next season" [syn: {sign}, {sign on}, {sign up}]
       3: squeeze or press together; "she compressed her lips"; "the
          spasm contracted the muscle" [syn: {compress}, {constrict},
           {squeeze}, {compact}, {press}]
       4: become smaller or draw together; "The fabric shrank"; "The
          balloon shrank" [syn: {shrink}] [ant: {expand}, {stretch}]
       5: be stricken by an illness, fall victim to an illness; "He
          got AIDS"; "She came down with pneumonia"; "She took a
          chill" [syn: {take}, {get}]
       6: make smaller; "The heat contracted the woollen garment"
       7: compress or concentrate; "Congress condensed the three-year
          plan into a six-month plan" [syn: {condense}, {concentrate}]
       8: make or become more narrow or restricted; "The selection was
          narrowed"; "The road narrowed" [syn: {narrow}] [ant: {widen}]
       9: reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The
          manuscript must be shortened" [syn: {abridge}, {foreshorten},
           {abbreviate}, {shorten}, {cut}, {reduce}] [ant: {elaborate}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  258 Moby Thesaurus words for "contract":
     OD, abbreviate, abridge, abstract, accept obligation, accord,
     acquire, affair, affiance, afflict, agree, agree to, agreement,
     answer for, arrangement, attempt, bag, bang, bar, bargain,
     bargain for, barricade, batten, batten down, be answerable for,
     be brought down, be felled, be responsible for, be security for,
     be seized of, be struck down, be traumatized, become engaged,
     betroth, bind, binding agreement, bob, boil down, bolt, bond,
     break out, bring down, bring on, bring upon, business, button,
     button up, capsulize, capture, cartel, catch, catch cold, cause,
     choke, choke off, circumscribe, clap, clip, close, close up,
     coarct, collapse, collective agreement, come by, come down with,
     come in for, come into, commit, commitment, compact, compress,
     concentrate, condense, confine, consolidate, consortium, constrict,
     constringe, contain, contract an engagement, convention, corral,
     corrugate, covenant, covenant of salt, cover, cramp, crease, crop,
     curtail, cut, cut back, cut down, cut off short, cut short, deal,
     decline, decrease, derange, derive, develop, dicker, diminish,
     disorder, do a deal, dock, drag down, draw, draw in, draw together,
     dwindle, earn, effort, elide, employment contract, engage,
     engagement, enter into possession, enterprise, epitomize, erupt,
     fail, fall in with, fall into, fasten, fever, fold, fold up,
     foreshorten, formal agreement, gain, get, go bail for, go in,
     go into shock, harvest, have an understanding, incur, indispose,
     induce, invite, ironclad agreement, key, knit, latch,
     legal agreement, legal contract, lessen, limit, lock, lock out,
     lock up, make, make a deal, minify, mow, mutual agreement, narrow,
     net, nip, obligate, obligation, obtain, occlude, operation,
     overdose, pact, paction, padlock, plan, plight, plumb, poll,
     pollard, preengagement, procure, program, project, promise,
     proposition, protocol, prune, publish the banns, pucker, pucker up,
     pull down, purse, reap, recap, recapitulate, recognizance, reduce,
     restrict, retrench, run, run a temperature, sack, scale down,
     score, seal, seal off, seal up, secure, shake hands on, shave,
     shear, shorten, shrink, shut, shut the door, shut up, sicken, sink,
     slam, snap, snape, snub, solidify, squeeze, squeeze shut,
     stipulate, stipulation, straiten, strangle, strangulate, stunt,
     succumb to, sum up, summarize, synopsize, take, take ill, take in,
     take the vows, taper, task, telescope, transaction, treaty, trim,
     troth, truncate, understanding, undertake, undertaking,
     union contract, upset, valid contract, venture, verbal agreement,
     wage contract, weaken, welcome, win, work, wrinkle, zip up,
     zipper
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  CONTRACT. This term, in its more extensive sense, includes every description 
  of agreement, or obligation, whereby one party becomes bound to another to 
  pay a sum of money, or to do or omit to do a certain act; or, a contract is 
  an act which contains a perfect obligation. In its more confined sense, it 
  is an agreement between two or more persons, concerning something to be, 
  done, whereby both parties are hound to each other, *or one is bound to the 
  other. 1 Pow. Contr. 6; Civ. Code of Lo. art. 1754; Code Civ. 1101; Poth. 
  Oblig. pt. i. c. 1, S. 1, Sec. 1; Blackstone, (2 Comm. 442,) defines it to 
  be an agreement, upon a sufficient consideration, to do or not to do a 
  particular thing. A contract has also been defined to be a compact between 
  two or more persons. 6 Cranch, R. 136. 
       2. Contracts are divided into express or implied. An express contract 
  is one where the terms of the agreement are openly uttered and avowed at the 
  time of making, as to pay a stated price for certain goods. 2 Bl. Com. 443. 
       3. Express contracts are of three sorts 1. BI parol, or in writing, as 
  contradistinguished from specialties. 2. By specialty or under seal. 3. Of 
  record. 
       4.-1. A parol contract is defined to be a bargain or voluntary 
  agreement made, either orally or in writing not under, seal, upon a good 
  consideration, between two or more persons capable of contracting, to, do a 
  lawful act, or to omit to do something, the performance whereof is not 
  enjoined by law. 1 Com. Contr. 2 Chit. Contr. 2. 
       5. From this definition it appears, that to constitute a sufficient 
  parol agreement, there must be, 1st. The reciprocal or mutual assent of two 
  or more persons competent to contract. Every agreement ought to be so 
  certain and complete, that each party may have an action upon it; and the 
  agreement would be incomplete if either party withheld his assent to any of 
  its terms. Peake's R. 227; 3 T. R. 653; 1 B. & A. 681 1 Pick. R. 278. The 
  agreement must, in general, be obligatory on both parties, or it binds 
  neither. To this rule there are, however, some exceptions, as in the case of 
  an infant's contract. He may always sue, though he cannot be sued, on his 
  contract. Stra. 937. See other instances; 6 East, 307; 3 Taunt. 169; 5 
  Taunt. 788; 3 B. & C. 232. 
       6.-2d. There must be a good and valid consideration, motive or 
  inducement to make the promise, upon which a party is charged, for this is 
  of the very essence of a contract under seal, and must exist, although the 
  contract be reduced to writing. 7 T. R. 350, note (a); 2 Bl. Coin. 444. See 
  this Dict. Consideration; Fonb. Tr. Eq. 335, n. (a) Chit. Bills. 68. 
       7.-3d. There must be a thing to be done, which is not forbidden; or a 
  thing to be omitted, the performance of which is not enjoined by law. A 
  fraudulent or immoral contract, or one contrary to public policy is void 
  Chit. Contr. 215, 217, 222: and it is also void if contrary to a statute. 
  Id. 228 to 250; 1 Binn. 118; 4 Dall. 298 4 Yeates, 24, 84; 6 Binn. 321; 4 
  Serg & Rawle, 159; 4 Dall. 269; 1 Binn. 110 2 Browne's R. 48. As to 
  contracts which are void for want of a compliance with the statutes of 
  frauds, see Frauds, Statute of.   
       8.-2. The second kind of express contracts are specialties, or those 
  which are made under seal, as deeds, bonds, and the like; they are not 
  merely written, but delivered over by the party bound. The solemnity and 
  deliberation with which, on account of the ceremonies to be observed, a deed 
  or bond is presumed to be entered into, attach to it an importance and 
  character which do not belong to a simple contract. In the case of a 
  specially, no consideration is necessary to give it validity, even in a 
  court of equity. Plowd. 308; 7 T. R. 477; 4 B. & A. 652; 3 T. R. 438; 3 
  Bingh. 111, 112; 1 Fonb. Eq, 342, note When, a contract by specialty has 
  been changed by a parol agreement, the whole of it becomes a parol contract. 
  2 Watts, 451; 9 Pick. 298; see 13 Wend. 71. 
       9.-3. The highest kind of express contracts are those of record, such 
  as judgments, recognizances of bail, and in England, statutes merchant and 
  staple, and other securities of the same nature, cutered into with the 
  intervention of some public authority. 2 Bl. Com. 465. See Authentic Facts. 
      10. Implied contracts are such as reason and justice dictates, and 
  which, therefore, the law presumes every man undertakes to perform; as if a 
  man employs another to do any business for him, or perform any work, the law 
  implies that the former contracted or undertook to pay the latter as much as 
  his labor is worth; see Quantum merwit; or if one takes up goods from a 
  tradesman, without any agreement of price, the law concludes that he 
  contracts to pay their value. 2 Bl. Com. 443. See Quantum valebant; 
  Assumpsit. Com. Dig. Action upon the case upon assumpsit, A 1; Id. 
  Agreement. 
      11. By the laws of Louisiana, when considered as to the obligation of 
  the parties, contracts are either unilateral or reciprocal. When the party 
  to whom the engagement is made, makes no express agreement on his part, the 
  contract is called unilateral, even in cases where the law attaches certain 
  obligations to his acceptance. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 1758. A loan for use, 
  and a loan of money, are of this kind. Poth. Ob. P. 1, c. 1, s. 1, art. 2. A 
  reciprocal contract is where the parties expressly enter into mutual 
  engagements such as sale, hire, and the like. Id. 
      12. Contracts, considered in relation to their substance, are either 
  commutative or independent, principal or accessory. 
      13. Commutative contracts, are those in which what is done, given or 
  promised by one party, is considered as equivalent to, or in consideration 
  of what is done, given or promised by the other. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 1761. 
      14. Independent contracts are those in which the mutual acts or 
  promises have no relation to each other, either as equivalents or as 
  considerations. Id. art. 1762. 
      15. A principal contract is one entered into by both parties, on their 
  accounts, or in the several qualities they assume. 
      16. An accessory contract is made for assuring the performance of a 
  prior contract, either by the same parties or by others, such as suretyship, 
  mortgage, and pledges. Id. art. 1764. Poth. Obl. p. 1, c. 1, s. 1, art. 2, 
  n. 14. 
      17. Contracts, considered in relation to the motive for. making them, are
  
  either gratuitous or onerous. To be gratuitous, the object of a contract 
  must be to benefit the person with whom it is made, without any profit or 
  advantage, received or promised, as a consideration for it. It is not, 
  however, the less gratuitous, if it proceed either from gratitude for a 
  benefit before received, or from the hope of receiving one hereafter, 
  although such benefits be of a pecuniary nature. Id. art. 1766. Any thing 
  given or promised, as a consideration for the engagement or gift; any 
  service, interest, or condition, imposed on what is given or promised, 
  although unequal to it in value, makes a contract onerous in its nature. Id. 
  art. 1767. 
      18. Considered in relation to their effects, contracts are either 
  certain or hazardous. A contract is certain, when the thing to be done is 
  supposed to depend on the will of the party, or when, in the usual course of 
  events, it must happen in the manner stipulated. It is hazardous, when the 
  performance.of that which is one of its objects, depends on an uncertain 
  event. Id. art. 1769. 
      19. Pothier, in his excellent treatise on Obligations, p. 1, c. 1, s. 1, 
  art. 2, divides contracts under the five following heads: 
      20.-1. Into reciprocal and unilateral. 
      21.-2. Into consensual, or those which are formed by the mere consent 
  of the parties, such as sale, hiring and mandate; and those in which it is 
  necessary there should be something more than mere consent, such as loan of 
  money, deposit or pledge, which from their nature require a delivery of the 
  thing, (rei); whence they are called real contracts. See Real Contracts. 
      22.-3. Into first, contracts of mutual interest, which are such as are 
  entered into for the reciprocal interest and utility of each of the parties, 
  as sales exchange, partnership, and the like. 
      23.-2d. Contracts of beneficence, which are those by which only one of 
  the contracting parties is benefited, as loans, deposit and mandate. 3d. 
  Mixed contracts, which are those by which one of the parties confers a 
  benefit on the other, receiving something of inferior value in return, such 
  as a donation subject to a charge, 
      24.-4. Into principal and accessory.
      25.-5. Into those which are subjected by the civil law to certain 
  rules and forms, and those which ate regulated by mere natural justice. See, 
  generally, as to contracts, Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.; Chitty on Contracts; 
  Comyn on Contracts; Newland on Contracts; Com. Dig. titles Abatement, E 12, 
  F 8; Admiralty, E 10, 11; Action upon the Case upon Assumpsit; Agreement; 
  Bargain and Sale; Baron and Feme, Q; Condition; Dett, A 8, 9; Enfant, B 5; 
  Idiot, D 1 Merchant, E 1; Pleader, 2 W, 11, 43; Trade D 3; War, B 2; Bac. 
  Abr. tit. Agreement; Id. Assumpsit; Condition; Obligation; Vin. Abr. 
  Condition; Contracts and Agreements; Covenants; Vendor, Vendee; Supp. to 
  Ves. jr. vol. 2, p. 260, 295, 376, 441; Yelv. 47; 4 Ves. jr., 497, 671; 
  Archb. Civ. Pl. 22; Code Civ. L. 3, tit. 3 to 18; Pothier's Tr. of 
  Obligations Sugden on Vendors and Purchasers; Story's excellent treatise on 
  Bailments; Jones on Bailments; Toullier, Droit Civil Francais, tomes 6 et 7; 
  Ham. Parties to Actions, Ch. 1; Chit. Pr. Index, h.t.; and the articles 
  Agreement; Apportionment; Appropriation; Assent; Assignment; Assumpsit; 
  Attestation; Bailment; Bargain and sale; Bidder; Bilateral contract; Bill of 
  Exchange; Buyer; Commodate; Condition; Consensual contract; Conjunctive; 
  Consummation; Construction; Contracto of benevolence; Covenant; Cumulative 
  contracts; Debt; Deed; Delegation. Delivery; Discharge Of a contract; 
  Disjunctive; Equity of a redemption; Exchange; Guaranty; Impairing the 
  obligation of contracts; Insurance; Interested contracts; Item; 
  Misrepresentation; Mortgage; Mixed contract; Negociorum gestor; Novation; 
  Obligation; Pactum constitutae, pecuniae; Partners; Partnership; Pledge; 
  Promise; Purchaser; Quasi contract; Representation; Sale; Seller; 
  Settlement; Simple contract; Synallagmatic contract; Subrogation; Title; 
  Unilateral contract. 
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  CONTRACT or BENEVOLENCE, Civil law. One which is made for the benefit of 
  only one of the contracting parties; such as loan for use, deposit, and 
  mandate. Poth. Obl. n. 12. See Contracts.