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nicable by contact with a patient suffering from it, or with some secretion of, or object touched by, such a patient. Most such diseases have already been proved to be germ diseases, and their communicability depends on the transmission of the living germs. Many germ diseases are not contagious, some special method of…

Contiguous; touching. [Obs.] Holland.

In actual contact; touching; also, adjacent; near; neighboring; adjoining. The two halves of the paper did not appear fully divided . . . but seemed contiguous at one of their angles. Sir I. Newton. Sees no contiguous palace rear its head. Goldsmith. Contiguous angles. See Adjacent angles, under Angle.…

Union or connection; the state of touching or contact. "Point of contingency." J. Gregory.

oath; -- so called from the fact that it was the ancient usage for the party taking it to touch the corporal, or cloth that covered the consecrated elements.

The dead body of a human being; -- used also Fig. He touched the dead corpse of Public Credit, and it sprung upon its feet. D. Webster. Corpse candle. (a) A thick candle formerly used at a lich wake, or the customary watching with a corpse on the night before its interment. (b) A luminous appearance, resembling the fla…

Soft; gentle; hesitating. Enforced hate, Instead of love's coy touch, shall rudely tear thee. Shak.

Mental flaw; a touch of craziness; partial insanity; as, he has a crack.

The torpedo, or electric ray, the touch of which gives an electric shock. See Electric fish, and Torpedo.

s. (b) The ability and fidelity of merchants or others who owe largely in a community. He touched the dead corpse of Public Credit, and it sprung upon its feet. D. Webster.

hak. By crystal streams that murmur through the meads. Dryden. The crystal pellets at the touch congeal, And from the ground rebounds the ratting hail. H. Brooks.

r general acceptance or circulation; authentic; passable. O Buckingham, now do I play the touch To try if thou be current gold indeed. Shak. Account current. See under Account. -- Current money, lawful money. Abbott.

To strike or touch gently, as with a soft or moist substance; to tap; hence, to besmear with a dabber. A sore should . . . be wiped . . . only by dabbing it over with fine lint. S. Sharp.

y throwing in something of an inferior quality; to overspread partially; to bespatter; to touch here and there; as, to dash wine with water; to dash paint upon a picture. I take care to dash the character with such particular circumstance as may prevent ill-natured applications. Addison. The very source and fount of da…

to settle. So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it. 1 Kings xx. 40. The quarrel toucheth none but us alone; Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then. Shak.

To make foul or impure; to make filthy; to dirty; to befoul; to pollute. They that touch pitch will be defiled. Shak.

aracter or rights. Bonaparte's decree denationalizes, as he calls it, all ships that have touched at a British port. Cobbett. An expatriated, denationalized race. G. Eliot.

, means, or condition, as profits from capital, conclusions or opinions from evidence. As touching traditional communication, . . . I do not doubt but many of those truths have had the help of that derivation. Sir M. Hale.

ivalent surface, as if by rolling the curved surface so that all parts shall successively touch the plane.

grants an estate; in later use, one who confers a power; -- the opposite of donee. Kent. Touching, the parties unto deeds and charters, we are to consider as well the donors and granters as the donees or grantees. Spelman.