contact

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)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.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The establishment of communication (with).

   “I haven't been in contact with her for years.”

   “In the old days, […] he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. But he had then none of the oddities and mannerisms which I hold to be inseparable from genius, and which struck my attention in after days when I came in contact with the Celebrity.”

   “When written information is unavailable and archeological findings are subject to conflicting interpretations, language data frequently provide the only evidence for prehistoric ethnic and cultural contacts.”

3. (countable, uncountable)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 […]”

4. (countable, uncountable)A nodule designed to connect a device with something else.

   “Touch the contact to ground and read the number again.”

5. (countable, uncountable)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. (broadly, countable, uncountable)Someone who can be contacted, or with whom one is in communication.
7. (countable, informal, uncountable)A contact lens.
8. (countable, uncountable)A device designed for repetitive connections.
9. (countable, informal, uncountable)Contact juggling.

   “I bought myself a new contact ball last week”

10. (countable, uncountable)The plane between two adjacent bodies of dissimilar rock.

verb

1. (transitive)To touch; to come into physical contact with.

   “The side of the car contacted the pedestrian.”

2. (transitive)To establish communication with (something or someone).

   “I am trying to contact my sister.”