1. A situation in which two people, objects, surfaces, or things physically touch each other; an act of touching: "It is very important that a mother have physical contact with her child or children."

"Contact means coming together or touching other people or things."

"The vehicle turned over when the rear wheels lost contact with the highway."

"During the storm, the pilot of the air craft lost contact with the control tower."

2. A connection with someone who might be of use: "The reporter met with his contact in the governor's office to verify the latest political proposal by the governor to the legislature."
3. Information that consists of such items as a telephone number, street address, or e-mail address, and any other data that makes it possible to communicate with each other: "An applicant is instructed to put his or her information on the application form so contacts can be made."
4. An exposure to a source of infection: "A person who has been exposed to a source of infection is also a contact."
5. Etymology: from Latin contactus, from contact, "touched, grasped, bordered on; from the verb contingere, from con-, "together with" + tangere, "to touch".

1. A condition which exists when people communicate and see each other: "In modern business, a person who is to be contacted and who seeks to get in touch with others to form business relations by trying to contact them."
2. When touching, meeting, joining, or connecting: "When the two wires contact each other, the machine will start."

"One technical form of contacting something consists of conducting a part of a component; such as, a switch or relay, that interacts with another conducting part to make or to break an electric circuit."

"Another form of contacting something is the point at which an object; such as, an aircraft or ship, is first detected by radar or another detecting device."

3. Communicating with, reaching, or getting in touch with someone: "Bianca was finally able to contact the computer technician so she could get her computer repaired."

1. In sports, allowing players to touch or to hit each other: "Ice hockey and football are examples of contact sports."
2. A reference to various kinds of communication: "The company is maintaining contact information regarding its employees."

1. A physical contact that permits electric current flow between conducting parts.
2. A metal strip in a switch or socket that touches a corresponding strip in order to make a connection for electric current to pass: "Some electric contacts are made of precious metals in order to avoid corrosion."

A switch that is used to produce modified square waves having the same frequency as, and a definite phase relationship to, a driving sine wave or a waveform with deviation that can be graphically expressed as the sine curve or a form or shape of a wave (a ripple or undulation).

All electromagnetic radiation, including radio signals, light rays, x-rays, and cosmic rays, as well as sound, behave like rippling waves in the ocean.

1. The meeting of the gaze of two people.
2. The direct look into the eyes of another person.

1. Deterioration or damage in metals caused by oxidation or chemical action that is caused or accelerated by an electrochemical cell.
2. Electrochemical corrosion associated with the current in a galvanic cell, caused by dissimilar metals in an electrolyte because of the difference in potential (emf) of the two metals.

The abbreviation emf refers to "electromotive force" or the cell voltage of a galvanic cell measured when there is no current flowing through the cell.

In other words, the equilibrium electrode potential difference between the two electrodes of the cell.

An inflammation of the skin or a rash resulting from excessive washing of the hands or an irritation caused by sensitization to a substance: "Those who wash their hands many times a day can develop irritant contact dermatitis also known as dish pan hands."

Another example of irritant contact dermatitis is when young children lick their lips repeatedly which can result in an irritant reaction to their own saliva."

The surface that separates rock bodies of different lithologies, or rock types: "A lithologic contact can be conformable (parallel strata that have undergone a similar geologic history) or unconformable depending upon the types of rock, their relative ages, and their attitudes. A fault surface can also serve as a lithologic contact."