compress vs contract

compress

verb
  • To make smaller; to press or squeeze together, or to make something occupy a smaller space or volume. 

  • To abridge. 

  • To make digital information smaller by encoding it using fewer bits. 

  • To be pressed together or folded by compression into a more economic, easier format. 

  • To condense into a more economic, easier format. 

noun
  • A multiply folded piece of cloth, a pouch of ice etc., used to apply to a patient's skin, cover the dressing of wounds, and placed with the aid of a bandage to apply pressure on an injury. 

  • A machine for compressing. 

contract

verb
  • To draw together or nearer; to shorten, narrow, or lessen. 

  • To enter into a contract with. 

  • To enter into, with mutual obligations; to make a bargain or covenant for. 

  • To make an agreement or contract; to covenant; to agree; to bargain. 

  • To betroth; to affiance. 

  • To shorten by omitting a letter or letters or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one. 

  • To bring on; to incur; to acquire. 

  • To gain or acquire (an illness). 

  • To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit. 

noun
  • An order, usually given to a hired assassin, to kill someone. 

  • 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. 

  • 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. 

  • The document containing such an agreement. 

  • A part of legal studies dealing with laws and jurisdiction related to contracts. 

  • The declarer's undertaking to win the number of tricks bid with a stated suit as trump. 

How often have the words compress and contract occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )