contact

contact
\ \ [17] The underlying notion of contact is not surprisingly one of ‘touching’. It comes ultimately from Latin tangeretouch’, source of English tactile, tangent, and tangible. Using the prefix com- ‘together’ this was formed into a compound verb contangeretouch, border on’, whose past participle contāctus was borrowed into English, originally as a noun (its use as a verb is a surprisingly late development, which did not happen until the late 19th century). Also derived from Latin contangere is contagion [14], and contaminate is probably related.
\ \ Cf.CONTAGION, CONTAMINATE, TACTILE, TANGENT, TANGIBLE

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • contact — [ kɔ̃takt ] n. m. • 1586; didact. av. XIXe; lat. contactus, rac. tangere « toucher » → tact 1 ♦ Position, état relatif de corps qui se touchent. Contact fugitif, prolongé. Certaines maladies se communiquent par contact direct. ⇒ contagieux.… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Contact FM — Contact (radio) Création 1982 Propriétaire Contact Groupe Slogan « Enjoy Your Life ! » Langue Français Pays …   Wikipédia en Français

  • contact — con‧tact [ˈkɒntækt ǁ ˈkɑːn ] noun [countable] a person you know who may be able to help or advise you, especially because of the work they do: • He has a lot of contacts in the media. • There are some excellent opportunities around, if you ask… …   Financial and business terms

  • contact — CONTÁCT, contacte, s.n. 1. Atingere directă, nemijlocită între două corpuri, două forţe, două energii etc. ♢ expr. În contact cu... = în nemijlocită apropiere de..., în legătură strânsă cu... ♦ (concr.) Piesă care serveşte la stabilirea unui… …   Dicționar Român

  • Contact — (englisch für Kontakt) steht für: Contact!, Album der italienischen Band Eiffel 65 Contact (Band), österreichisches Popduo Contact (Computerspiel), Videospiel für Nintendo DS Contact (Legespiel), Kinderspiel von Ken Garland Contact (Roman), Roman …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Contact FM — City of license Hamilton Broadcast area Hamilton Worldwide (Internet) Frequency 88.1 MHz First air date 1976 Format Student radio …   Wikipedia

  • contact — n Contact, touch mean the state or fact of coming into direct connection or close association with someone or something. Contact implies the mutual relation between two bodies that impinge upon each other {the tangent at its point of contact with …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • contact — [kän′takt΄; ] for v. [, ] occas. [ kən takt′] n. [L contactus, pp. of contingere, to touch, seize < com , together + tangere, to touch: see TACT] 1. the act or state of touching or meeting [two surfaces in contact] 2. the state or fact of… …   English World dictionary

  • Contact 94 — was a radio station that broadcast from France to the Channel Islands between 1988 and 1991.[1] See also Channel 103 BBC Radio Jersey Island FM BBC Radio Guernsey References ^ Contact 94 Reunion September 2008, Paul Easton Flickr Page …   Wikipedia

  • 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 …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • contact — (n.) 1620s, action of touching, from L. contactus a touching, from pp. of contingere to touch, seize, from com together (see COM (Cf. com )) + tangere to touch (see TANGENT (Cf. tangent)). Figurative sense of connection, communication …   Etymology dictionary

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