3 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Contracted \Con*tract"ed\, a.
1. Drawn together; shrunken; wrinkled; narrow; as, a
contracted brow; a contracted noun.
2. Narrow; illiberal; selfish; as, a contracted mind;
contracted views.
3. Bargained for; betrothed; as, a contracted peace.
Inquire me out contracted bachelors. --Shak.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Contract \Con*tract"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Contracted}; p. pr.
& vb. n. {Contracting}.] [L. contractus, p. p. of contrahere
to contract; con- + trahere to draw: cf. F. contracter. See
{Trace}, and cf. {Contract}, n.]
1. To draw together or nearer; to reduce to a less compass;
to shorten, narrow, or lessen; as, to contract one's
sphere of action.
In all things desuetude doth contract and narrow our
faculties. --Dr. H. More.
2. To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit.
Thou didst contract and purse thy brow. --Shak.
3. To bring on; to incur; to acquire; as, to contract a
habit; to contract a debt; to contract a disease.
Each from each contract new strength and light.
--Pope.
Such behavior we contract by having much conversed
with persons of high station. --Swift.
4. 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.
5. To betroth; to affiance.
The truth is, she and I, long since contracted, Are
now so sure, that nothing can dissolve us. --Shak.
6. (Gram.) To shorten by omitting a letter or letters or by
reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one.
Syn: To shorten; abridge; epitomize; narrow; lessen;
condense; reduce; confine; incur; assume.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
contracted
adj : reduced in size or pulled together; "the contracted pupils
of her eyes" [ant: {expanded}]