contract vs down payment

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. 

down payment

noun
  • Any initial commitment signifying an intention to carry out a larger future commitment, even though no legal rights or obligations are secured. 

  • A payment representing a fraction of the price of something being purchased, made to secure the right to continue making payments towards that purchase. 

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