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

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

Uncontracted. [Obs.] Blackwall.

Contracted after a former contract.

Any stock of missiles, literal or figurative. Ammunition bread, shoes, etc., such as are contracted for by government, and supplied to the soldiers. [Eng.]

Not contracted of brief; not concise; extended; diffusive; as, an ample narrative. Johnson.

Of each; an equal quantity; as, wine and honey, ana (or, contracted, aa), ., that is, of wine and honey, each, two ounces. An apothecary with a . . . long bill of anas. Dryden.

The first of the two propositions which constitute an enthymeme or contracted syllogism; as, Every man is mortal; therefore the king must die.

The mark ['] used to denote that a word is contracted (as in ne'er for never, can't for can not), and as sign of the possessive, singular and plural; as, a boy's hat, boys' hats. In the latter use it originally marked the omission of the letter e.

Concise; contracted. [Obs.] Weever.

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.

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…

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…

Drawn together; bound; contracted; cramped.

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.

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

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.

In Greek grammar, a sign ['] sometimes placed over a contracted syllable. W. W. Goodwin.

Wrinkled; crumpled; furrowed; contracted into ridges and furrows.