contralto

The lowest female singing voice. At their lowest, contraltos sometimes sound like Barry White. There are traditionally very few roles for contraltos in operas, though modern musical theatre has begun to include them. A common saying is that contraltos are only allowed to play "witches, bitches and britches," with "britches" referring to a trouser role.

Some famous contraltos are Cher, Fiona Apple, Patti LuPone and Marilyn Horne.
Some famous contralto roles in musical theatre are Katisha (The Mikado), Dalila (Samson et Dalila) and Charity (Sweet Charity).

by Pitti-Sing June 23, 2006

Second Great Contraction

The worldwide financial crisis of the late 2000s that started with widespread the American subprime mortgage defaults and led to the collapse of many overleveraged Wall Street firms such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. The resultant recession has been deep and both monetary and fiscal policy have taken unprecedented steps in order to curtail its negative impact in efforts to prevent the credit markets from freezing and to stimulate spending.

Everyone keeps comparing the Second Great Contraction to the Great Depression, but only time will tell how similar they truly are.

by berryfrusion June 14, 2009

contango

Contango (as defined at http://www.investorwords.com)is "a condition in which distant delivery prices for futures exceed spot prices, often due to the costs of storing and insuring the underlying commodity. opposite of backwardation." The potential, substantial economic and worldwide significance of contango came to light after an investigative reporter did a review of contango's effect on world oil prices. That analysis can be found on NPR's "All Things Considered" dated August 24, 2006 entitled "Analyst: Blame Investors for High Gas Prices".

"Contango" might be one cause for up to 20% of the past run up in prices of oil around the world. Major investors such as hedge funds, brokerage houses, banks, pension funds, etc. are making large guaranteed profits whenever unusual levels of contango develop in oil commodity prices. Contango is the opposite of "backwardation" (where the reverse price level differences occur in the futures market). Contango lets investors lock in guaranteed significant profits by buying oil at "low" current prices and selling the same oil to others at guaranteed higher prices in the future i.e. through the futures market. When the price of storage and insurance to hold the commodities for future delivery (plus the initial purchase price) is less than the total future price received, then guaranteed profits result by utilizing and understanding contango.

by Ubunto September 15, 2008

contract

1. an arrangement to have someone murdered by a

professional criminal

2. any illegal or unethical arrangement

Those bastards have set up a contract and are targeting the Former Governor.

by The Return of Light Joker August 25, 2009

fixed-term contract

a fixed-term contract is any contract of employment that will terminate:
-on the expiry of a specific term;
-on the completion of a particular task;
-on the occurrence or non-occurrence of any other specific event other than the attainment of retiring age

This post will be offered as a fixed-term contract with an end date of 30 September 2005

by dEnIz March 14, 2005

Walking Contradiction

Someone who is constantly talking nonsense but thinks he/she is spitting nothing but the facts and is just a prime example of a walking contradiction

Troy Birtell is the perfect example of a walking contradiction. End of story.

by Everyoneandanyone March 8, 2010

Contradicting

To Go Back On Ur Word.

Ur Actions Are Contradicting On Ur Words.

by AwesomeKia (: August 23, 2011