contract vs settlement

contract

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

  • 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. 

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. 

settlement

noun
  • A mutual agreement to end a dispute without resorting to legal proceedings, also known as an out-of-court settlement or settling out of court. 

  • The act of settling. 

  • A community of people living together, such as a hamlet, village, town, or city; a populated place. 

  • The state of being settled. 

  • A resolution of a dispute. 

  • A disposition of property, or the act of granting it. 

  • The gradual sinking of a building. Fractures or dislocations caused by settlement. 

  • The delivery of goods by the seller and payment for them by the buyer, under a previously agreed trade or transaction or contract entered into. 

  • A settled place of abode; residence; a right growing out of legal residence. 

  • A colony that is newly established; a place or region newly settled (even in past times). 

  • A site where people used to live together in ancient times; an ancient simple kind of village. 

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