In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
CONTRACTED
contracted
(adjective) reduced in size or pulled together; “the contracted pupils of her eyes”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Adjective
contracted (comparative more contracted, superlative most contracted)
(not comparable) Arranged by contract; established by agreement.
Made smaller by contraction.
Incurred; acquired.
Verb
contracted
simple past tense and past participle of contract
Anagrams
• decontract
Source: Wiktionary
Con*tract"ed, 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.
CONTRACT
Con*tract", v. t. [imp. & p.p. Contracted; p.pr. & vb.n. Contracting.] Etym: [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 lesen; as, to contract one's shpere of action. In all things desuetude doth contract and narrow our faculties. Dr. H. More.
2. To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit. Thou didst contract and purse thy brow. Shak.
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. 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. To betroth; to affiance. The truth is, she and I, long since contracted, Are now so sure, that nothing can dissolve us. Shak.
6. (Gram.)
Definition: 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.
Con*tract", 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. Wordsworth.
2. To make an agreement; to covenant; to agree; to bargain; as, to contract for carrying the mail.
Con"tract, a.
Definition: Contracted: as, a contract verb. Goodwin.
Con*tract", a. Etym: [L. contractus, p.p.]
Definition: Contracted; affianced; betrothed. [Obs.] Shak.
Con"tract, n. Etym: [L. contractus, fr. contrahere: cf. F. contrat, formerly also contract.]
1. (Law)
Definition: 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
8 November 2024
REPLACEMENT
(noun) the act of furnishing an equivalent person or thing in the place of another; “replacing the star will not be easy”
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