Both Uses of
contract
in
To Kill a Mockingbird
- I thought she was going to spit in it, which was the only reason anybody in Maycomb held out his hand: it was a time-honored method of sealing oral contracts.
p. 24.4 *contracts = agreements
- Little Chuck's face contracted and he said gently, "You mean him, ma'am?"
p. 29.1 *contracted = pulled back
Definitions:
-
(1)
(contract as in: legal contract) an agreement - typically written and enforceable by law
-
(2)
(contract as in: contract the disease) to get -- especially in reference to a disease
-
(3)
(contract as in: the metal contracted) when something gets shorter or smaller
-
(4)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
A grammatical sense of the word form contraction describes can't as a shortened form of can not.