CONTAIN • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Contain

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/kəntˈeɪn/ Listen

verb

Contain v. t. (past & past part. contained; pres. part. containing)

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!" "When that this body did contain a spirit." "What thy stores contain bring forth."

To have capacity for; to be able to hold; to hold; to be equivalent to; as, a bushel contains four pecks.

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." "Fear not, my lord: we can contain ourselves."

Contain v. i. To restrain desire; to live in continence or chastity. "But if they can not contain, let them marry."

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Etymology of 'Contain'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Contain" Quotes from Famous Books

... is evidenced in the nationwide tree balloting now being conducted by the American Forestry Association for the selection of a national tree. In this voting nut bearing trees are in the lead. Many nuts contain as much musclebuilding food as rich cheese, a third more than beef steak, twice as much fat as cheese, five times as much as eggs. Chestnuts contain 70 per cent of starch, nearly as much as the best wheat flour and four times as much as potatoes. Peanuts and hickory nuts are three ...

— Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Eleventh Annual Meeting - Washington, D. C. October 7 AND 8, 1920 • Various

... no particular character, nor need they have any, as they merely introduce the last two, which contain an utterance of blank despair and desolation which seems to me more expressive than any other that ...

— The Galaxy - Vol. 23, No. 1 • Various

... properly equipped and ready for the best company, Mr. Gridley said to the young poet, who had found it very hard to contain his impatience, that they would now call together on the publisher to whom he wished to introduce him, and ...

— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)

... removed and hung up in the clothes-closet the beautiful furs, dress, and hat. Her bag was open on the couch, but it seemed to contain no kimono, and the Western girl remained half hidden behind the portiere ...

— Nan Sherwood at Rose Ranch • Annie Roe Carr

... only pair, as it seemed, who were yet hesitating on the verge of wickedness in this dark world. A basin was hollowed, naturally, in the rock. Did it contain water, reddened by the lurid light? or was it blood? or, perchance, a liquid flame? Herein did the shape of evil dip his hand and prepare to lay the mark of baptism upon their foreheads, that they might be partakers ...

— Mosses from an Old Manse and Other Stories • Nathaniel Hawthorne

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