[syn: touch, adjoin, meet, contact]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Contact \Con"tact\ (k[o^]n"t[a^]kt), n. [L. contactus, fr.
contingere, -tactum, to touch on all sides. See
Contingent.]
1. A close union or junction of bodies; a touching or
meeting.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Geom.) The property of two curves, or surfaces, which
meet, and at the point of meeting have a common direction.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Mining) The plane between two adjacent bodies of
dissimilar rock. --Raymond.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Electricity) A metallic conducting component of an
electrical device connected to a circuit within and so
situated that it may form a conducting pathway to an
external power source or device when contacted by another
conductor; as, the contact on a standard light bulb has
the shape of a screw for easy insertion into the socket.
[PJC]
5. A person who serves to commmunicate information to or from
one group to another, whether formally or informally; as,
a good Washington reporter has contacts in the White
House.
[PJC]
Contact level, a delicate level so pivoted as to tilt when
two parts of a measuring apparatus come into contact with
each other; -- used in precise determinations of lengths
and in the accurate graduation of instruments.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
contact
n 1: close interaction; "they kept in daily contact"; "they
claimed that they had been in contact with extraterrestrial
beings"
2: the act of touching physically; "her fingers came in contact
with the light switch" [syn: contact, physical contact]
3: the state or condition of touching or of being in immediate
proximity; "litmus paper turns red on contact with an acid"
4: the physical coming together of two or more things; "contact
with the pier scraped paint from the hull" [syn: contact,
impinging, striking]
5: a person who is in a position to give you special assistance;
"he used his business contacts to get an introduction to the
governor" [syn: contact, middleman]
6: a channel for communication between groups; "he provided a
liaison with the guerrillas" [syn: liaison, link,
contact, inter-group communication]
7: (electronics) a junction where things (as two electrical
conductors) touch or are in physical contact; "they forget to
solder the contacts" [syn: contact, tangency]
8: a communicative interaction; "the pilot made contact with the
base"; "he got in touch with his colleagues" [syn: contact,
touch]
9: a thin curved glass or plastic lens designed to fit over the
cornea in order to correct vision or to deliver medication
[syn: contact, contact lens]
v 1: be in or establish communication with; "Our advertisements
reach millions"; "He never contacted his children after he
emigrated to Australia" [syn: reach, get through, get
hold of, contact]
2: be in direct physical contact with; make contact; "The two
buildings touch"; "Their hands touched"; "The wire must not
contact the metal cover"; "The surfaces contact at this
point" [syn: touch, adjoin, meet, contact]