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Webster 1913 Edition


Contain

Con-tain′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Contained
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Containing
.]
[OE.
contenen
,
conteinen
, F.
contenir
, fr. L.
continere
,
-tentum
;
con-
+
tenere
to hold. See
Tenable
, and cf.
Countenance
.]
1.
To hold within fixed limits; to comprise; to include; to inclose; to hold.
Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can not
contain
thee; how much less this house!
2 Chron. vi. 18.
When that this body did
contain
a spirit.
Shakespeare
What thy stores
contain
bring forth.
Milton.
2.
To have capacity for; to be able to hold; to hold; to be equivalent to;
as, a bushel
contains
four pecks
.
3.
To put constraint upon; to restrain; to confine; to keep within bounds.
[Obs., exept as used reflexively.]
The king’s person
contains
the unruly people from evil occasions.
Spenser.
Fear not, my lord: we can
contain
ourselves.
Shakespeare

Con-tain′

,
Verb.
I.
To restrain desire; to live in continence or chastity.
But if they can not
contain
, let them marry.
1 Cor. vii. 9.

Webster 1828 Edition


Contain

CONTAIN

,
Verb.
T.
[L., to hold. See Tenet, Tenure.]
1.
To hold, as a vessel; as, the vessel contains a gallon. Hence, to have capacity; to be able to hold; applied to an empty vessel.
2.
To comprehend; to hold within specified limits.
Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. 1 Kings 8.
3.
To comprehend; to comprise. The history of Livy contains a hundred and forty books.
4.
To hold within limits prescribed; to restrain; to withhold from trespass or disorder.
The Kings person contains the unruly people from evil occasions.
Fear not, my Lord, we can contain ourselves.
5.
To include. This article is not contained in the account. This number does not contain the article specified.
6.
To inclose; as, this cover or envelop contains a letter.

CONTAIN

,
Verb.
I.
To live in continence or chastity. Arbuthnot and Pope. 1 Corinthians 7.

Definition 2024


contain

contain

English

Verb

contain (third-person singular simple present contains, present participle containing, simple past and past participle contained)

  1. (transitive) To hold inside.
    • 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate, chapter III:
      At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. [] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
    • 2013 July 20, Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      [The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, [].
  2. (transitive) To include as a part.
    • 2014 April 21, Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:
      Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.
  3. (transitive) To put constraint upon; to restrain; to confine; to keep within bounds.
    I'm so excited, I can hardly contain myself!
    • Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)
      The king's person contains the unruly people from evil occasions.
    • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
      Fear not, my lord: we can contain ourselves.
    • 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate, Prologue:
      Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. No omnibus, cab, or conveyance ever built could contain a young man in such a rage. His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn.
  4. (mathematics, of a set etc., transitive) To have as an element or subset.
    A group contains a unique inverse for each of its elements.
    If that subgraph contains the vertex in question then it must be spanning.
  5. (obsolete, intransitive) To restrain desire; to live in continence or chastity.
    • Bible, 1 Corinthians vii. 9.
      But if they can not contain, let them marry.

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