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of folution of continuity. Bacon. —After the great lights 
there mult be great fhadows, which we call repofes; be- 
caufe in reality the fight would be tired, if it were at¬ 
tracted by a continuity of glittering objects. Dry den. —In 
phylic. —That texture or cohefion of the parts of an ani¬ 
mal body, upon the deltrudtion of which there is laid to 
be a folution of continuity. Quincy. —As in the natural 
body a wound or folution of continuity is a corrupt lnl- 
TOPur, fo in the fpiritual. Bacon. 
CONTINUOUS, adj. \_continuus, Lat.] Joined toge¬ 
ther without the intervention of any fpace.—As the 
breadth of every , ring is thus augmented, the dark in¬ 
tervals mult be diminifhed, until the neighbouring rings 
become continuous, and are blended. Newton. 
To whole dread expanfe, 
f Hivuous depth, and wond’rous length of courfe, 
Our floods are rils. Tiicmfon. 
CON'TQ-PERTANA (Don Jofeph), died at Lilbon 
in 17^5. He has given,.in his.epic poem of Quitterie la 
Sainte, one of the belt works that Portugal ^jas ever 
^produced. With the" imagination of Camoensy he pol- 
leiies more talte and nature; notwithltanding which his 
performance is not in fuch high reputation as the Lufiad. 
CONTOB AB'DITES, a feet which rofe up in the 
fixth century. 'Their firlt leader was Severus of An¬ 
tioch ; who was fucceededby John the grammarian, fur- 
named Pluloponus, and one Theodofius whofe followers 
were alfo called Theodoltans. Part of them, who were 
willing to receive a book compoled by Theodofius on 
the Trinity, made a feparate body, and were called Con - 
tobabdiies, from feme place, which Nicephorus does not 
mention, but which mult apparently have been the place 
where they held their affemblies. The Contobabditcs. 
allowed of no bilhops ; which is the only circumltance 
given us concerning them. 
CONTOOCOOK.', a river of North America, in New 
Jlarnplhire, which runs into the Merrimack : four miles 
north of Concord. 
To CONTO'RT, v. a. [yontortus, Lat.] To twill; to 
writhe.—Air feems to conlilt of fpires contorted into fmall 
fpheres, through the interltices of which the particles of 
light may freely pafs. Cheyne. 
CONTOR'TzE, [from contorqueo, to twill together.] 
The twenty-ninth order in the Fragments of a Natural 
Method, in the Philofophia Botanica ; and the thirtieth 
of the Natural Orders, in the Genera Plantarum of Lin¬ 
naeus. 
CONTORTION,/! Twill; wry motion ; flexure.— 
How can Ihe acquire thofe hundred graces and motions, 
and airs, the contortions of every mulcular motion in the 
face ? Szoift. 
CONTOU'R,/ [Fr.] The outline; the line by which 
any figure is defined or terminated. 
CONTRA. A Latin prepofition, ufed in compofi- 
tion, and in book-keeping by double-entry, which fignifies 
againjl. 
CON'TRA-ANTISCION, / among aftrologers, is 
the degree and minute in the ecliptic, oppolite to the 
ancifcion. 
COM'TRA-HARMONICALPROPORTION/.That 
relation of three terms, in which the difference of the firlt 
and fecond is to the diiference of the feeond and third, as 
the third is to the firlt. Thus, for inltance, 3, 5, and 6, 
are numbers contra-harmonically proportional ; for, as 
* : 1 :: 6 : 3. 
CONTRA-INDICANT, /. [from contra and indico, 
Lat.] A fymptom which forbids treating a diforder in 
the ufual way.—Throughout it was full of contra-mde¬ 
cants. Burke. 
CON'Tlt A-LUNARIS,/ [from contra, and luna, the 
moon. ] An epithet uled of a woman who conceive? during 
unehliruation. 
CON'TRA-MURE, /. in fortification, a little wall 
CON 
bipit before another partitisn wall to flrengthen it, fo that 
it may receive ho damage from the adjacent buildings. 
CONTRA-NATURAL, adj. [ contra, Lat. and natu¬ 
ral,'] Oppofite to natufe.-r-Which teaches every man to 
fly a contra-natural dilTolutioh. Hobbes. 
CONTRABAND, adj. \_contrabando, ItaL contrary to 
proclamation.] Prohibited; illegal; unlawful.—If there 
happen to be found an irreverent expreltion, or a thought 
too wanton, in the cargo, let them be ftaved or forfeited, 
like contraband- goods; Dryden. 
To CONTRABAND, v. a. To import -goods pro¬ 
hibited. 
CONTRABAND GOODS,/. Are all thofe things 
which are prohibited by adt of parliament, or the king’s 
proclamation, to be imported into, or exported out of, 
this into any other nation. 
To CONTRA'CT, v. a. [contractus, Lat.] To draw 
together into lefs compafs; 
Why love among the virtues is not known ; 
It is, that love contracts them all in one. Donne. 
To leflen ; to make lefs ample.—In all things defuetude 
does contraEl and narrow our faculties. Government of the 
Tongue. —To draw the parts of any thing together.'—To 
him the angel with contracted brow. Milton, —To make a 
bargain: 
On him thy grace did liberty beftow ; 
But firlt contracted, that, if ever found. 
His head Ihould pay the forfeit. Dryden. 
To betroth ; to affiance.—'She was a lady of the highefl 
condition in that country, and contracted to a man cf merit 
and quality. Tatler. —To procure; to bring; to incur; 
to draw..; to get: 
He that but conceives a crime in thought, 
Contracts the danger of an actual fault. Diydcn. 
Like friendly colours, found them both unite', 
And each from each contraCl new llrength and light. Pope. 
To fhorten: as, life was contracted. To epitomife ; to 
abridge. 
To CONTRA'CT, v. n. To flirinkup; to grow fliort. 
Whatever empties the vefiels, gives room to the fibres 
to contraCl. Arbuthnot .—To bargains as, to contract for a, 
quantity of provijions. 
CONTRA'CT, part.'adj. Affianced; contracted: 
Firlt was he contract to lady Lucy; 
Your mother lives a witnefs to that vow. Shakcfpeare. 
CONTRACT,/ [anciently accented on the lafl fy 1 la- 
ble. ] An adt whereby two parties are brought together; a 
bargain ; acompadt.—The agreement upon orders, by mu¬ 
tual contraCl, with the confent to execute them<by Com¬ 
mon llrength, they make the rile of all civil govern¬ 
ments. Temple. —'An adt whereby a man and woman are 
betrothed to one another : 
Touch’d you the baltardy of Edward’s children :—■ 
—I did, with \\\s’contraCl with lady Lucy, 
, And his contraCl by deputy in France. Skakefpeare. 
CONTRACT, in law, a covenant or agreement be¬ 
tween two or more perfons, with a lawful confideration 
or caufe; as if a man fells his horfe or other thing to 
another, for a fum of money.; or covenants in confidera¬ 
tion of twenty pounds to make him a leafe of a farm, 
&c. thefe are good contracts, becaufe there is a quid pro 
quo , or one thing for another : but if a perfon make pro- 
mile to me, that I iliall have twenty fhillings, and that 
he will be debtor to me therefore, and after I demand 
the .twenty Ihillings, and he will not give it me, yet I 
lhall never have any adtion to recover this twenty Ihil¬ 
lings, becaufe it was no contraCl, but a bare promife, or 
nudum padum ; though if any thing were given for the 
twenty Ihillings, if it were but to the value of a penny, 
then it had been a good contraCl. See the article Con¬ 
sideration* 
