CON 
135 '' 
Sometimes agaivjl-. 
In ambitious ftrength I did 
Contend agaivjl thy valour. Shakefpeare. 
To CONTE'ND, v. a. To drfpute any thing; to 
conteft: 
Their airy limbs in fports they esercjfe, 
And on the green contend the wreftler’s prize. Diyden . 
CONTEND'ENT, f. Antagonift; opponent; cham¬ 
pion ; combatant. Not vfed. —In all notable changes and 
revolutions, the contendents have been dill made a prey 
to tlie third party. L' Ef range. 
CONTEND'ER, J. Combatant; champion.—-Thofe 
difputes often arife in good earned:, where the two con¬ 
tenders do really believe the different proportions which 
they fupport. Watts. 
CONTE'NEMENT,/! feems to be the freehold land, 
which lies to the tenement or dwelling-houfe, that is in 
a man’s own occupation. Terms de Ley. 
CONTE'NT, adj. [contentus, I.at.] Satisfied, fo as not 
to repine; eafy, though not highly pleafed.—.Who is 
content, is happy. Locke. 
Foe to loud praife, and friend to learned eafe, 
Content with fcience in the vale of peace. Pope. 
Satisfied, fo as not to oppofe : 
Submit you to the people’s voices, 
Allow their officers, and be content 
To fuffer lawful cenfure. Shakefpeare. 
To CONTE'NT, v. a. To fatisfy, fo as to flop com¬ 
plaint ; not to offend ; to appeafe ; without plenary hap- 
pinels or complete gratification.— ^Content thyfelf with this 
much, and let this fatisfy thee, that I love thee. Sidney. 
•—Do not content yourfelves with obfeure and confuted 
ideas, where clearer are to be attained. Watts. —To pleafe; 
to gratify : 
Is the adder better than the eel, 
Becaufe his painted fkin contents the eye ? Shakefpeare. 
CONTE'NT, f. Moderate happinefs ; fuch fatisfac- 
tion as, though it does not fill up defire, appeafes com¬ 
plaint : 
A wife content his even foul fecur’d ; 
By want not fiiuken, nor by v'ealth allur’d. Smit/i. 
Acquiefcence ; fatisfadlion in a thing unexamined : 
Others for language all their care exprefs, 
And value books, as -women men, for drefs : 
Their praife is ffill—the ftile is excellent; 
The fenfe they humbly take upon content. Pope. 
[From contentu t s, contained.] That which is contained, or 
included, in any thing.—Scarcely any thing can b‘e.de¬ 
termined of the particular contents of any fingle mafs of 
ore by mere infpedtion. Woodward. 
Though my heart’s content firm love doth bear, 
Nothing of that fhall from mine eyes appear. Shake/p. 
The power of containing ; extent ; capacity. In this 
fenfe it is ufed for the meafurement of bodies and fur- 
faces, whether folid or ftiper. cial; or the capacity of a 
veil'd and the area of a fpace ; being the quantity either 
f t matter or fpace included within certain bounds or 
limits.—It were good to know the geometrical content, 
figure, and fituation, of all the lands of a kingdom, ac¬ 
cording to natural bounds. Graunt .—That which is com- 
priled in a writing. In this fenfe the plural only is in ufe. 
•—-I lhall prove theie writings not counterfeits, but au¬ 
thentic ; and the contents true, and worthy of a divine 
original. Grew. 
CONTENTA'TION,yi Satisfaction; content. Out of 
u If '—Fourteen years ipace, during the minority of Gor- 
diamis, the government was with great applaufe and con- 
tentation in the hands of Mifitffeus, a pedant. Bacon. 
■CONTENT'ED, part. adj. Satisfied; at quiet; 
C O N 
repining; not demanding more ; eafy, though not ple- 
narily happy.-—•BarbarofTa, in hope by fulferance to ob¬ 
tain another kingdom, feemed contented, with the anlwer. 
Knolles. 
To diffant lands Vertumnus never roves, 
Like you contenied wjth his native groves. Pope. 
“ A contented mind is a continual fcaft.” I.at. Con- 
tentus abundat. High Ger. Werfich geniigen lacfzt, der hat 
genug ; He who is fatisfied has enough. And fo the Fr. 
On ejl heureux quand on cf content. And the Ital. Chi c con- 
tento efelice ; He who is fatisfied is happy. Nature re¬ 
quires fo fmall a matter for its fatisfadtion, that rnoft me'n 
are the caufe of their own difeontent. When imaginary 
wants poffefs our minds, we prevail upon ourfelves to 
believe them real, and then lofe the fruition of w hat we 
completely enjoy, by perplexing ourfelves for what we 
in reality do not want; and, which makes it the more 
unreafonable, often for what we know we, can never 
obtain. 
CONTENT'EDLY, adv. Unconcernedly. How can 
it be laid, they do love at all, who contentedly let each 
other run on in a courfe that will bring them to eternal 
mifery ? Whole Duty of Man. 
CONTF.NT'EDNESS,/. State of fatisfadtion in any 
lot.—-Angling was, after tedious ffudy, a calmer of un¬ 
quiet thoughts, a moderator of paffions, a procurer of 
contcntednefs. Walton. 
CONTEN'TION,yi fontehtio, Lat.] Strife; debate; 
conteft; quarrel; mutual oppofition. — Avoid fooliih 
queftions and genealogies, and contentions and driving. 
Tit. iii. 9.—The ancients made contention the principle 
that reigned in the chaos at firft, and then love ; the one 
to exprefs the divifions, and the other the union of all 
parties in the middle and common bond. Burnet. —Emu¬ 
lation ; endeavour to excel : 
Sons and brother at a ftri-fe ! 
What is your quarrel ? how began it firft ? 
-No quarrel, but a fweet .contention. Shakefpeare. 
Eagernefs ; zeal ; ardour ; vehemence of endeavour.—■ 
Your own earneftnefs and contention to effedt w hat you are 
about, will continually'fuggeft toyoufever.il artifices. 
Holder. 
CONTEN'TIOUS, adj. Quarrelfome ; given to de¬ 
bate ; perverfe ; not peaceable.—There are certain con¬ 
tentious humours that are never to be pleafed. VFf range. 
-— Reft made them idle, idlenefs made them curiouSj and 
curioftty contentious. Decay of Piety. 
CONTEN'TIOUS JURISDICTION, inlaw, a court 
which has a power to judge and determine differences 
between contending parties.—.The lord chief jftftices, 
and judges, have a contentious jurifdidtion ; but the lords 
of the treafury, and the commiflioners of the cuftoms, 
have none, being merely judges of accounts and tranfac- 
tions. Chambers. 
CONTEN'TIOUSLY, adv. Perverfely; quarrelfome- 
ly.—We ftiall not -contentioufy rejoin, or only to juftify 
our own, but to applaud and confirm his maturer alfer- 
tions.' Brown. 
CONTENTIOUSNESS,/ Pronenefs to conteft ; per- 
verferiefs ; turbulence : quarrellomenpfs.—Do not conten- 
tioufnefs, and cruelty, and ftudy of revenge,-feidorn fail of 
retaliation ? Bentley. 
CONTENT'LESS, adj. Difcontented; diffatified ; tin- 
eafy : 
Beft ftates, cordentlfs, 
Plave a diftradted and moft wretched being, 
Worfe than the worft, content. Shakefpeare. 
CONTENT'MENT, f. Acquiefcence, without ple¬ 
nary fatisfadtion.—Submiffion is the only reafoning be¬ 
tween a creature and its Maker, and contentment, in his will 
is the beft remedy we can apply to misfortunes. Temple. 
Some place the blifs in adtion, fonte in eale ; 
Thofe call it plealure, and contentment thefe. Pope,. 
Gratification.. 
