(verb) : con-trecto (contracto), āvi, ātum, 1, tracto
* To touch, handle, come in contact with, feel (class.; most freq. after the Aug. per.).
* Lit.
* In gen.: nudum corpus aquaï,Lucr. 6, 854: pectora,Ov. M. 8, 607: omnes partes corporis inspectare et contrectare,Sen. Contr. 1, 2; cf.: membra mortuae,Suet. Ner. 34: obscena,Sen. Const. 13, 2: filium Demaeneti,Plaut. As. 3, 1, 17: librum manibus, * Hor. Ep. 1, 20, 11: vulnus,to meddle with,Ov. P. 2, 2, 60: pocula vel cibos,Col. 12, 4, 3: pecuniam,Suet. Calig. 42; cf.: pecunias vetitas, Cod. Th. 9, 23, 1, § 2.
* Trop., to contemplate, look at, consider, dwell upon: nudare corpus et contrectandum vulgi oculis permittere,Tac. A. 3, 12: mente varias voluptates,Cic. Tusc. 3, 15, 33; cf. id. de Or. 3, 6, 24: studia et disciplinas philosophiae,to apply one's self to,Gell. 17, 19, 3.
* To touch in examining, to search: ne feminae praetextatique pueri et puellae contrectarentur,Suet. Claud. 35.
* To touch carnally, to have illicit intercourse with, Plaut. Poen. 5, 5, 32; id. Mil. 4, 2, 61: multorum uxores,Suet. Dom. 1; Just. 7, 3, 4.
* Transf.: contrectata filiarum pudicitia,violated, dishonored,Tac. A. 14, 35.
* In the Lat. of the jurists, to appropriate: rem alienam, Gai Inst. 3, 195; Dig. 13, 1, 20.
* Esp.: aliquid,to take by stealth, to steal, purloin,Dig. 41, 2, 3; 25, 2, 3 al.

s. TLL