contract vs deal

contract

noun
  • 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. 

  • 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. 

  • 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. 

verb
  • To enter into a contract with. 

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

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

  • 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. 

deal

noun
  • An agreement between parties; an arrangement. 

  • A transaction offered which is financially beneficial; a bargain. 

  • The distribution of cards to players; a player's turn for this. 

  • Male genitalia. 

  • A plank of softwood (fir or pine board). 

  • A particular instance of trading (buying or selling; exchanging; bartering); a transaction. 

  • A thing, an unspecified or unidentified object. 

  • Wood that is easy to saw (from conifers such as pine or fir). 

  • A situation, occasion, or event. 

  • An indefinite quantity or amount; a lot (now usually qualified by great or good). 

verb
  • To trade professionally (followed by in). 

  • To handle, to manage, to cope. 

  • To be concerned with. 

  • To pitch. 

  • To distribute among a number of recipients, to give out as one’s portion or share. 

  • To have dealings or business. 

  • To administer or give out, as in small portions. 

  • To sell, especially to sell illicit drugs. 

  • To distribute cards to the players in a game. 

  • To conduct oneself, to behave. 

  • deliver damage, a blow, strike or cut. To inflict. 

adj
  • Made of deal. 

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