[f. as prec. + -ING2.]
1. Entering into a contract or mutual agreement.
1720. Lond. Gaz., No. 5822/2. The Contracting Powers in the said Treaty.
1874. Green, Short Hist., iv. § 3. 180. In the event of any war between the two contracting parties.
2. That shortens, narrows, etc. (trans. and intr.).
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. 158. It is this ascending and contracting proportion that adds stability to any government.
1794. Sullivan, View Nat., I. 410. The water is accumulated by the opposition of contracting banks.
1877. trans. Ziemssen’s Cycl. Med., XV. 482. Our present experience of genuine contracting kidney.
