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An agreement between parties concerning the sale of property; or a contract by which one party binds himself to transfer the right to some property for a consideration, and the other party binds himself to receive the property and pay the consideration. A contract is a bargain that is legally binding. Wharton.…

The party to a contract who receives, or agrees to receive, the property sold. Blackstone.

One who makes a bargain, or contracts with another; esp., one who sells, or contracts to sell, property to another. Blackstone.

ometer. See Aneroid barometer, under Aneroid. -- Marine barometer, a barometer with tube contracted at bottom to prevent rapid oscillations of the mercury, and suspended in gimbals from an arm or support on shipboard. -- Mountain barometer, a portable mercurial barometer with tripod support, and long scale, for measu…

ense; vindication. In behalf of his mistress's beauty. Sir P. Sidney. Against whom he had contracted some prejudice in behalf of his nation. Clarendon. In behalf of, in the interest of. -- On behalf of, on account of; on the part of.

An instrument, utensil, or machine, which, by alternate expansion and contraction, or by rise and fall of the top, draws in air through a valve and expels it through a tube for various purposes, as blowing fires, ventilating mines, or filling the pipes of an organ with wind. Bellows camera, in photography, a form of ca…

To contract to any one for a marriage; to engage or promise in order to marriage; to affiance; -- used esp. of a woman. He, in the first flower of my freshest age, Betrothed me unto the only heir. Spenser. Ay, and we are betrothed. Shak.

The act of betrothing, or the fact of being betrothed; a mutual promise, engagement, or contract for a future marriage between the persons betrothed; betrothment; affiance. "The feast of betrothal." Longfellow.

r a thing put up at auction), or to take (a certain price, as for work to be done under a contract).

bonds to do something, as to appear at court, to keep the peace, etc. -- To bind to, to contract; as, to bind one's self to a wife. -- To bind up in, to cause to be wholly engrossed with; to absorb in.

Being in two parts; having two correspondent parts, as a legal contract or writing, one for each party; shared by two; as, a bipartite treaty.

ge, which is usually strengthened by prominences called teeth. The shell is closed by the contraction of two transverse muscles attached to the inner surface, as in the clam, -- or by one, as in the oyster. See Mollusca.

Law), a creditor whose debt is secured by a bond. Blackstone. -- Bond debt (Law), a debt contracted under the obligation of a bond. Burrows. -- Bond (or lap) of a slate, the distance between the top of one slate and the bottom or drip of the second slate above, i. e., the space which is covered with three thicknesses…

A contract in the nature of a mortgage, by which the owner of a ship, or the master as his agent, hypothecates and binds the ship (and sometimes the accruing freight) as security for the repayment of money advanced or lent for the use of the ship, if she terminates her voyage successfully. If the ship is lost by perils…

action of a law, or of any obligation or tie; violation; non-fulfillment; as, a breach of contract; a breach of promise.

Contraction into few words; conciseness. Brevity is the soul of wit. Shak. This argument is stated by St. John with his usual elegant brevity and simplicity. Bp. Porteus.

Not carried into effect; not adhered to; violated; as, a broken promise, vow, or contract; a broken law.

An agent employed to effect bargains and contracts, as a middleman or negotiator, between other persons, for a compensation commonly called brokerage. He takes no possession, as broker, of the subject matter of the negotiation. He generally contracts in the names of those who employ him, and not in his own. Story.…

One who mines by contract, at so much per ton of coal or ore.

ma venenosum), a native of tropical Africa. It is highly poisonous. It is used to produce contraction of the pupil of the eye; also in tetanus, neuralgia, and rheumatic diseases; -- called also ordeal bean, being used by the negroes in trials for witchcraft.