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raw 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.

ts by selling their labor (to be performed inside the prison) at a fixed price per day to contractors who are allowed to have agents in the prison to superintend the work.

A clay tablet on which was inscribed a contract, for safe keeping. Such tablets were inclosed in an outer case (often called the envelope), on which was inscribed a duplicate of the inscription on the inclosed tablet.

Drawn together; shrunken; wrinkled; narrow; as, a contracted brow; a contracted noun.

The state of being contracted; narrowness; meannes; selfishness.

Capability of being contracted; quality of being contractible; as, the contractibiliy and dilatability of air. Arbuthnot.

Capable of contraction. Small air bladders distable and contractible. Arbuthnot.

Contractibility.

tending to contract; having the power or property of contracting, or of shrinking into shorter or smaller dimensions; as, the contractile tissues. The heart's contractile force. H. Brooke. Each cilium seems to be composed of contractile substance. Hixley. Contractile vacuole (Zoöl.), a pulsating cavity in the interior…

The quality or property by which bodies shrink or contract.

The act or process of contracting, shortening, or shrinking; the state of being contracted; as, contraction of the heart, of the pupil of the eye, or of a tendion; the contraction produced by cold.

Tending to contract; having the property or power or power of contracting.

One who contracts; one of the parties to a bargain; one who covenants to do anything for another; specifically, one who contracts to perform work on a rather large scale, at a certain price or rate, as in building houses or making a railroad.

A state of permanent rigidity or contraction of the muscles, generally of the flexor muscles.

Uncontracted. [Obs.] Blackwall.

To contract, engage, or stipulate previously.

A contract under, or subordinate to, a previous contract.

Contracted after a former contract.

One who takes a portion of a contract, as for work, from the principal contractor.

n or reduce from a higher to a lower state, number, or degree; to lessen; to diminish; to contract; to moderate; toto cut short; as, to abate a demand; to abate pride, zeal, hope. His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. Deut. xxxiv. 7.