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con-trăho , xi, ctum, 3,
I.v. a., to draw or bring several objects together, to collect, assemble (freq. and class.).
I. In gen.
B. Trop.
1. To bring about, carry into effect, accomplish, execute, get, contract, occasion, cause, produce, make, etc. (very freq.): “amicitiam,Cic. Lael. 14, 48: “vinculum amicitiae,Val. Max. 4, 7 init.: “aliquid litigii,Plaut. Cas. 3, 2, 31; cf. “lites,id. Capt. prol. 63: qui hoc mihi contraxit, id. Cas. 3, 2, 21; cf.: “negotium mihi,Cic. Cat. 4, 5, 9; and: “numinis iram mihi (arte),Ov. M. 2, 660: “bellum Saguntinis,Liv. 24, 42, 11: “aliquid damni,Cic. Fin. 5, 30, 91: “molestias,id. Fam. 2, 16, 5; cf. Sall. H. 2, 41, 8 Dietsch: “aes alienum,Cic. Q. Fr. 1, 1, 8, § 25: “causam certaminis,Liv. 22, 28, 4; cf. “certamen,id. 23, 26, 11; 25, 34, 10 al.: “necessitates ad bellum,id. 44, 27, 12: “culpam,to incur, Cic. Att. 11, 24, 1 al.: “cruditatem,Quint. 7, 3, 38; cf. id. 2, 10, 6: “morbum,Plin. 30, 8, 21, § 65: “pestilentiam,id. 36, 27, 69, § 202: “saginam corporis,Just. 21, 2: “causam valetudinis ex profluvio alvi,Suet. Aug. 97 fin. et saep.: porca contracta, owed, due, sc. for the expiation of a crime, Cic. Leg. 2, 22, 57 fin.
2. In the lang. of business, t. t., to make a contract, conclude a bargain, to contract: “rationem, rem cum illo,Cic. Clu. 14, 41; cf. id. Off. 1, 17, 53; id. Sull. 20, 56; id. Att. 7, 7, 7: “in tribuendo suum cuique et rerum contractarum fide,id. Off. 1, 5, 14: “ex rebus contrahendis,id. ib. 3, 15, 61: “in contrahendis negotiis,id. ib. 2, 11, 40: “adfinitas inter Caesarem et Pompeium contracta nuptiis,Vell. 2, 44, 3 et saep.—
b. Transf. beyond the sphere of business: “cum aliquo,to have intercourse with, to associate with, Cic. Off. 1, 2, 4: “nihil cum populo,id. Tusc. 5, 36, 105.—
II. In partic., with the prevailing idea of shortening or diminishing by drawing together (cf.: cogo, colligo, etc.), to draw close or together, to draw in, contract, shorten, narrow, lessen, abridge, diminish (freq. and class.; opp. porrigo, dilato, tendo).
A. Lit.: “animal omne membra quocumque volt flectit, contorquet, porrigit, contrahit,Cic. Div. 1, 53, 120: “pulmones tum se contrahunt adspirantes, tum intrante spiritu dilatant,id. N. D. 2, 55, 136: “contractum aliquo morbo bovis cor,id. Div. 2, 16, 37; cf.: “se millepeda tactu,Plin. 29, 6, 39, § 136: “bina cornua (opp. protendere),id. 9, 32, 51, § 101: collum. Cic. Tusc. 2, 17, 41; “opp. tendere,Quint. 11, 3, 82: “frontem,to wrinkle, contract, Cic. Clu. 26, 72; Hor. S. 2, 2, 125: “supercilia (opp. deducere),Quint. 11, 3, 79: “medium digitum in pollicem,id. 11, 3, 92; cf.: “contractum genibus tangas caput,Hor. S. 2, 7, 61: “gravissimo frigore solus atque contractus vigilabit in lectulo,Hier. Ep. 53: “castra,Caes. B. G. 7, 40: “vela,Hor. C. 2, 10, 23; Quint. 12, prooem. § 4; cf. Cic. Att. 1, 16, 2: “orbem (lunae),Ov. M. 15, 198: “umbras,id. ib. 3, 144: “orationem (with summittere),Quint. 11, 1, 45; cf. id. 12, 11, 16: “tempora dicendi,id. 6, 5, 4 et saep.: “lac,to curdle, coagulate, Plin. 23, 7, 63, § 117.—Of bees: “contracto frigore pigrae ( = contractae frigore pigro),Verg. G. 4, 259; cf.: “pigrum est enim contractumque frigus,Sen. Ira, 2, 19, 2: “horrida tempestas contraxit caelum,narrows, Hor. Epod. 13, 1: “vulnera,Plin. 24, 8, 33, § 48; cf. “cicatrices,id. 12, 17, 38, § 77: “ventrem,to stop, check, Cels. 4, 19; cf. “alvum,id. ib.: “vomitiones,Plin. 20, 2, 6, § 11.—
2. Esp., archit. t. t., to narrow, make smaller or tapering: “columnam,Vitr. 4, 3, 4; cf. id. 3, 3, 12; 4, 7, 2: “pyramis XXIV. gradibus in metae cacumen se contrahens,Plin. 36, 5, 4, § 31.—
B. Trop., to draw in, lessen, check, restrain ( = certis limitibus quasi coartare et circumscribere; “opp. remittere, diffundere): cui non animus formidine divum contrahitur?Lucr. 5, 1219; cf.: “te rogo, ne contrahas ac demittas animum,do not suffer your spirits to droop, Cic. Q. Fr. 1, 1, 1, § 4; and: “animos varietas sonorum (opp. remittere),id. Leg. 2, 15, 38: terram quasi tristitiā (sol; “opp. laetificas),id. N. D. 2, 40, 102: “ut et bonis amici quasi diffundantur et incommodis contrahantur,are made sad, id. Lael. 13, 48 (cf. id. Tusc. 4, 6, 14): “ex quibus intellegitur, appetitus omnes contrahendos sedandosque,id. Off. 1, 29, 103; cf. “cupidmem,Hor. C. 3, 16, 39 et saep. —Hence, contractus , a, um, P. a. (acc. to II.), drawn together into a narrow space, i. e. compressed, contracted, close, short, narrow, abridged, restricted, limited, etc.
B. Trop.
1. Of language, etc.: “et brevis ambitus verborum,Cic. Brut. 44, 162; cf.: “contractior oratio,id. ib. 31, 120: “propositum dicendi (opp. uberius),Quint. 11, 1, 32: “summissā atque contractā voce (opp. erectā et concitatā),id. 11, 3, 175; so, “vox,id. 11, 3, 64: parvum opusculum lucubratum his jam contractioribus noctibus, Cic. Par. prooem. § 5.—
2. In gen.: “quae studia in his jam aetatibus nostris contractiora esse debent,Cic. Cael. 31, 76: “paupertas,stinted, Hor. Ep. 1, 5, 20 (cf.: “angusta pauperies,id. C. 3, 2, 1); “in the same sense transf. to the person: ad mare descendet vates tuus et sibi parcet Contractusque leget,retired, solitary, id. ib. 1, 7, 12; cf. “homo,Verg. M. 78.— Adv.: contractē , on a contracted scale; only in comp.: “assuescamus. servis paucioribus serviri, habitare contractius,Sen. Tranq. 9, 3; Lact. 2, 8, 39 al.
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hide References (82 total)
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries from this page (82):
    • Cicero, Letters to his Friends, 2.16.5
    • Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 11.24.1
    • Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 1.16.2
    • Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 7.7.7
    • Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 8.1.2
    • Cicero, Letters to his brother Quintus, 1.1.1
    • Cicero, Letters to his brother Quintus, 1.1.8
    • Caesar, Gallic War, 1.34
    • Caesar, Gallic War, 4.22
    • Caesar, Gallic War, 7.40
    • Cicero, For Marcus Caelius, 31.76
    • Cicero, Against Catiline, 4.5.9
    • Cicero, For Aulus Cluentius, 14.41
    • Cicero, For Aulus Cluentius, 26.72
    • Cicero, For Sulla, 20.56
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 2.660
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3.144
    • Vergil, Georgics, 4.259
    • Vergil, Georgics, 4.295
    • Suetonius, Divus Augustus, 31
    • Suetonius, Divus Augustus, 97
    • Horace, Satires, 2.2.125
    • Horace, Satires, 2.7.61
    • Vitruvius, On Architecture, 4.3.4
    • Vitruvius, On Architecture, 3.3.12
    • Vitruvius, On Architecture, 4.7.2
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 15.198
    • Caesar, Civil War, 1.15
    • Plautus, Casina, 3.2
    • Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, 5.1219
    • Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, 5.569
    • Suetonius, Caligula, 19
    • Cornelius Nepos, Agesilaus, 3.1
    • Cornelius Nepos, Conon, 4.4
    • Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 36.31
    • Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 20.11
    • Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 24.48
    • A. Cornelius Celsus, De Medicina, 4.19
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 28, 18.2
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 37, 44.3
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 22, 28
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 23, 26
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 24, 42
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 25, 34
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 44, 27
    • Seneca, de Ira, 2.19.2
    • Seneca, de Tranquilitate Animi, 9.3
    • Cicero, De Legibus, 2.15
    • Cicero, De Legibus, 2.22
    • Cicero, De Divinatione, 1.53
    • Cicero, de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, 5.30
    • Cicero, de Natura Deorum, 2.40
    • Cicero, de Natura Deorum, 2.55
    • Cicero, de Natura Deorum, 2.57
    • Cicero, De Amicitia, 14
    • Cicero, De Amicitia, 7
    • Cicero, De Amicitia, 13
    • Cicero, De Divinatione, 2.16
    • Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes, 2.17
    • Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes, 4.6
    • Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes, 5.36
    • Cicero, De Officiis, 1.2
    • Cicero, De Officiis, 1.29
    • Cicero, De Officiis, 1.5
    • Cicero, De Officiis, 1.17
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 2, 10.6
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 6, 5.4
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 1.32
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 1.45
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 3.175
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 3.64
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 3.79
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 3.82
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 3.92
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 11, 3.95
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 12, 11.16
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 12, pr.4
    • Columella, Res Rustica, 5.5.3
    • Cicero, Brutus, 44.162
    • Ovid, Fasti, 4
    • Ovid, Fasti, 6
    • Valerius Maximus, Facta et Dicta Memorabilia, 4.7
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