Search the Dictionary

A colloquial contraction for can not.

The act, process, or result of canceling; as, the cansellation of certain words in a contract, or of the contract itself.

Possessing legal power or capacity; as, a man capable of making a contract, or a will.

er, etc., necessary for certain purposes, as for holding office, for marrying, for making contracts, will, etc.; legal power or right; competency. Capacity for heat, the power of absorbing heat. Substances differ in the amount of heat requisite to raise them a given number of thermometric degrees, and this difference i…

nd fault without good reason. You do not well in obstinacy To cavil in the course of this contract. Shak.

A contraction for Violoncello.

A written evidence in due form of things done or granted, contracts made, etc., between man and man; a deed, or conveyance. [Archaic]

A making of contracts.

efore the lord high constable and earl marshal of England as judges, having cognizance of contracts and other matters relating to deeds of arms and war. Blackstone.

nd of pear that has a rough, astringent taste, and is swallowed with difficulty, or which contracts the mucous membrane of the mouth.

duced to possession, but recoverable by suit at law; as a right to recover money due on a contract, or damages for a tort, which can not be enforced against a reluctant party without suit. -- Chose in possession, a thing in possession, as distinguished from a thing in action. -- Chose local, a thing annexed to a plac…

A contractile cell or vesicle containing liquid pigment and capable of changing its form or size, thus causing changes of color in the translucent skin of such animals as possess them. They are highly developed and numerous in the cephalopods.

of continuity and completes the process of healing in the latter, and which subsequently contracts and becomes white, forming the scar.

A series of muscular contractions due to sudden stretching of the muscle, -- a sign of certain neuropathies.

Uttered with a relatively contracted opening of the mouth, as certain sounds of e and o in French, Italian, and German; -- opposed to open. Close borough. See under Borough. -- Close breeding. See under Breeding. -- Close communion, communion in the Lord's supper, restricted to those who have received baptism by imme…

Covetous; niggardly. Bp. Berkeley. "Closefisted contractors." Hawthorne.

To cause to contract into wrinkles or ridges, as some kinds of cloth after a wetting. Cockling sea, waves dashing against each other with a short and quick motion. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

bove. This structure is characteristic of certain igneous rocks, as basalt, and is due to contraction in cooling.

kind. -- Commutation ticket, a ticket, as for transportation, which is the evidence of a contract for service at a reduced rate. See 2d Commute, 2.

An agreement between parties; a covenant or contract. The law of nations depends on mutual compacts, treaties, leagues, etc. Blackstone. Wedlock is described as the indissoluble compact. Macaulay. The federal constitution has been styled a compact between the States by which it was ratified. Wharton.…