All 3 Uses of
contract
in
The Hidden Oracle
- I watched, petrified, until I discerned the slightest expansions and contractions in the wrappings around their chests.†
p. 269.2 *
- My contracting memory terrified me.†
p. 116.8 *
- My sense of guilt seemed to have expanded as my life span contracted.†
p. 186.3
Definitions:
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(1)
(contract as in: legal contract) an agreement - typically written and enforceable by law
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(2)
(contract as in: contract the disease) to get -- especially in reference to a disease
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(3)
(contract as in: the metal contracted) when something gets shorter or smaller
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(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.