different between sink vs contract

English

Etymology

From Old English sincan, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwan?, from Proto-Indo-European *seng?- (“to fall, sink”). Compare West Frisian sinke, Low German sinken, Dutch zinken, German sinken, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål synke, Swedish sjunka. In the causative sense, it replaced Old English sen?an (“make sink”) from Proto-Germanic *sankwijan?.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /s??k/
• Rhymes: -??k
• Homophones: sync, synch, cinque

Verb

sink (third-person singular simple present sinks, present participle sinking, simple past sank or sunk, past participle sunk or sunken)

2. (heading, physical) To move or be moved into something.
   1. (ergative) To descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance.

   2. (transitive) To cause a vessel to sink, generally by making it no longer watertight.

   3. (transitive) To push (something) into something.

   4. (transitive) To make by digging or delving.

      to sink a well in the ground

   5. (transitive, snooker, pool, billiards, golf) To pot; hit a ball into a pocket or hole.
      • 2008, Edward Keating, The Joy of Ex: A Novel

        My sister beats me at pool in public a second time. I claim some dignity back by potting two of my balls before Tammy sinks the black.

3. (heading, social) To diminish or be diminished.
   1. (intransitive, figuratively, of the human heart) To experience apprehension, disappointment, dread, or momentary depression.
      • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Ch.21:

        I tried, but I could not wake him. This caused me a great fear, and I looked around terrified. Then indeed, my heart sank within me. Beside the bed, as if he had stepped out of the mist, or rather as if the mist had turned into his figure, for it had entirely disappeared, stood a tall, thin man, all in black.

      • 1915, Thornton W. Burgess, The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, Little, Brown, and Company, Boston; ch. XIX:

        Peter's heart sank. "Don't you think it is dreadful?" he asked.

   2. (transitive, figuratively) To cause to decline; to depress or degrade.
      • c. 1613, William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, Henry VIII, Act II, scene i:

        And if I have a conscience, let it sink me

      • 1700, Nicholas Rowe The Ambitious Stepmother, Act II, scene ii:

        Thy cruel and unnatural lust of power / Has sunk thy father more than all his years.

   3. (intransitive) To demean or lower oneself; to do something below one's status, standards, or morals.
      • 2013, Steve Henschel, Niagara This Week, April 24:

        Who would sink so low as to steal change from veterans?

4. (transitive, slang, archaic) To conceal and appropriate.
5. (transitive, slang, archaic) To keep out of sight; to suppress; to ignore.
   • 1849 December 15, Frederick William Robertson, Sermon 14, “The Principle of Spiritual Harvest”:

     I say not always dishonorable qualifications, but a certain flexibility of disposition; a certain courtly willingness to sink obnoxious truths, and adapt ourselves to the prejudices of the minds of others […]

6. (transitive, slang) To pay absolutely.

7. (transitive, slang, archaic) To reduce or extinguish by payment.

8. (intransitive) To be overwhelmed or depressed; to fail in strength.

   • I think our country sinks beneath the yoke.
9. (intransitive) To decrease in volume, as a river; to subside; to become diminished in volume or in apparent height.

Usage notes

• Use of sunk for the simple past instead of sank is not uncommon, but may be considered non-standard.

Synonyms

• (descend into a liquid, etc): descend, go down
• (submerge): dip, dunk, submerge
• (cause (ship, etc) to sink):
• (push (something) into):

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

sink (plural sinks)

2. A basin used for holding water for washing.
3. A drain for carrying off wastewater.
4. (geology) A sinkhole.
5. A depression in land where water collects, with no visible outlet.
6. A heat sink.
7. A place that absorbs resources or energy.
8. (ecology) A habitat that cannot support a population on its own but receives the excess of individuals from some other source.
9. (baseball) The motion of a sinker pitch.

   Jones has a two-seamer with heavy sink.

10. (computing, programming) An object or callback that captures events; event sink
11. (graph theory) a destination vertex in a transportation network
12. An abode of degraded persons; a wretched place.
13. A depression in a stereotype plate.
14. (theater) A stage trap-door for shifting scenery.
15. (mining) An excavation less than a shaft.
16. (game development) One or several systems that remove currency from the game's economy, thus controlling or preventing inflation

    Antonym: faucet

Synonyms

• (basin): basin, washbasin; see also washbasin for washing fixtures without water supply

Antonyms

• (destination vertex): source

Derived terms

• (washbasin): vessel sink

Translations

Related terms

• countersink
• everything but the kitchen sink

References

• Honey, I sunk the boat, The Grammarphobia Blog

Anagrams

• -kins, inks, k'ins, kins, skin

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??k/

Etymology 1

From Dutch zinken, from Middle Dutch sinken, from Old Dutch *sincan, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwan?, from Proto-Indo-European *seng?- (“to fall, sink”).

Verb

sink (present sink, present participle sinkende, past participle gesink)

1. (intransitive) to sink

Etymology 2

From Dutch zink, from German Zink.

Noun

sink (uncountable)

1. zinc

Estonian

Noun

sink (genitive singi, partitive sinki)

1. ham

Declension

Faroese

Etymology

From German Zink.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s???k/
• Rhymes: -???k

Noun

sink n (genitive singular sinks, uncountable)

1. (metal) zinc

Declension

Derived terms

• sinksalva

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -???k

Noun

sink n (genitive singular sinks, no plural)

1. zinc (chemical element)

Declension

Anagrams

• skin

Mauritian Creole

Numeral

sink

1. Alternative spelling of senk

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

sink m or n (definite singular sinken or sinket) (uncountable)

1. zinc (chemical element, symbol Zn)

Derived terms

• forsinke
• sinksulfat

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From German Zink.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??k/

Noun

sink m or n (definite singular sinken or sinket) (uncountable)

1. zinc (chemical element, symbol Zn)

Derived terms

• sinksulfat

References

• “sink” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

West Frisian

Verb

sink

1. first-person singular present of sinke
2. imperative of sinke

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English, from Old French contract, from Latin contractum, past participle of contrahere (“to bring together, to bring about, to conclude a bargain”), from con- (“with, together”) + trahere (“to draw, to pull”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: k?n'tr?kt
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k?nt?ækt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?k?nt?ækt/

Noun

contract (plural contracts)

1. An agreement between two or more parties, to perform a specific job or work order, often temporary or of fixed duration and usually governed by a written agreement.

   Synonyms: compact, pact
2. (law) An agreement which the law will enforce in some way. A legally binding contract must contain at least one promise, i.e., a commitment or offer, by an offeror to and accepted by an offeree to do something in the future. A contract is thus executory rather than executed.
3. (law) A part of legal studies dealing with laws and jurisdiction related to contracts.
4. (informal) An order, usually given to a hired assassin, to kill someone.

5. (bridge) The declarer's undertaking to win the number of tricks bid with a stated suit as trump.

Synonyms

• (part of legal studies): contract law

Hypernyms

• (agreement that is legally binding): agreement

Hyponyms

• (agreement that is legally binding): bailment

Derived terms

• contract of employment
• contractual
• fixed-term contract

Translations

Adjective

contract (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Contracted; affianced; betrothed.
2. (obsolete) Not abstract; concrete.

Etymology 2

From Middle English, from Middle French contracter, from Latin contractum, past participle of contrahere (“to bring together, to bring about, to conclude a bargain”), from con- (“with, together”) + trahere (“to draw, to pull”). The verb developed after the noun, and originally meant only "draw together"; the sense "make a contract with" developed later.

Pronunciation

• enPR: k?ntr?kt, IPA^(key): /k?n?t?ækt/

Verb

contract (third-person singular simple present contracts, present participle contracting, simple past and past participle contracted)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To draw together or nearer; to shorten, narrow, or lessen.

   The snail's body contracted into its shell.

   to contract one's sphere of action

   • 1835, William Wordsworth, The Armenian Lady's Love

     Years contracting to a moment.

   • 1675, Richard Allestree, The Government of the Tongue

     We see in all things how desuetude do's contract and narrow our faculties.

2. (grammar) To shorten by omitting a letter or letters or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one.

   The word "cannot" is often contracted into "can't".

3. (transitive) To enter into a contract with. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
4. (transitive) To enter into, with mutual obligations; to make a bargain or covenant for.

   • We have contracted an inviolable amitie, peace, and league with the aforesaid Queene.

   • 1721, John Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials

     Many persons […] had contracted marriage within the degrees of consanguinity […] prohibited by law.

5. (intransitive) To make an agreement or contract; to covenant; to agree; to bargain.

   to contract for carrying the mail

6. (transitive) To bring on; to incur; to acquire.

   She contracted the habit of smoking in her teens.

   to contract a debt

   • 1717, Alexander Pope, Epistle to Mr. Jervas

     Each from each contract new strength and light.

   • c. 1703-1720, Jonathan Swift, An Essay on the Fates of Clergymen

     That kind of behaviour, which we contract by having too much conversation with persons of high station.

7. (transitive) To gain or acquire (an illness).
   • 1999, Davidson C. Umeh, Protect Your Life: A Health Handbook for Law Enforcement Professionals, page 69:

     An officer contracted hepatitis B and died after handling the blood-soaked clothing of a homicide victim […]

8. To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit.
9. To betroth; to affiance.

Synonyms

• (lessen): abate, decrease, lessen, reduce
• (shorten): shorten, shrink
• (gain or acquire (an illness)): catch, get

Antonyms

• (lessen): increase, expand
• (shorten): grow, lengthen

Translations

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch contract, from Old French contract, from Latin contractum, past participle of contrah? (“to bring together, to bring about, to conclude a bargain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?tr?kt/
• Hyphenation: con?tract
• Rhymes: -?kt

Noun

contract n (plural contracten, diminutive contractje n)

1. contract

Synonyms

• overeenkomst

Derived terms

• arbeidscontract
• contractarbeider
• contractbreuk
• handelscontract
• huurcontract
• koopcontract

Related terms

• contracteren
• contractueel

Descendants

• Afrikaans: kontrak
• ? Indonesian: kontrak
• ? West Frisian: kontrakt

Romanian

Etymology

From French contrat, from Latin contractus.

Noun

contract n (plural contracte)

1. contract

Declension

Scots

Etymology

From English contract.

Noun

contract (plural contracts)

1. contract

Welsh

Etymology

From English contract.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?ntrakt/

Noun

contract m (plural contractau)

1. contract

   Synonym: cytundeb

Mutation

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present) , “contract”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies