contact

Etymology

From Latin contactus, from contingō (“I touch on all sides”), from tangō (“I touch”). Used in English since the 17th century.

noun

1. The act of touching physically; being in close association.
   She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill. 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court
2. The establishment of communication (with).
   I haven't been in contact with her for years.
3. The situation of being within sight of something; visual contact.
   If the pilot […] cannot establish visual contact with the ground, he must immediately execute a missed-approach procedure […] 1983, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Operations. Government Activities and Transportation Subcommittee, Hazardous Obstructions at San Francisco Airport, page 126
4. A nodule designed to connect a device with something else.
   Touch the contact to ground and read the number again.
5. Someone who can be contacted, or with whom one is in communication.
   Who is the company's contact for sales queries?
   The salesperson had a whole binder full of contacts for potential clients.
6. (informal) A contact lens.
7. (electricity) A device designed for repetitive connections.
8. (informal, by ellipsis) Contact juggling.
   I bought myself a new contact ball last week
9. (mining) The plane between two adjacent bodies of dissimilar rock.

verb

1. (transitive, occasionally proscribed) To touch; to come into physical contact with.
   The side of the car contacted the pedestrian.
2. (transitive, occasionally proscribed) To establish communication with (something or someone).
   I am trying to contact my sister.