Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - contact

~1 n 1 »COMMUNICATION« communication with a person, organization, country etc  (He's not had any contact with his son for months.) + between  (There is very little contact between the two tribes.) be/get/stay in contact (with)  (We stay in contact with each other by telephone. | make/lose contact with (=succeed in communicating or stop communicating with someone))  (I've lost contact with most of my school friends. | put sb in contact (with) (=make it possible for someone to communicate with another person by giving them that person's address or telephone number))  (Sarah put me in contact with an expert in the field.) 2 »TOUCH« a state in which two people or things touch each other  (Children need close physical contact and interaction with a caring adult.) + between  (This disease is spread by contact between the animals.) in contact (with)  (For a second, his hand was in contact with mine. | come into contact (with))  (She screamed as her body came into contact with the water. | on contact (with) (=at the moment of touching something))  (The bomb exploded on contact with the ground. | contact points/area/surfaces etc)  (The contact points of the two surfaces must be clean and dry.) 3 come into contact with sb to meet someone  (Diana dazzled everyone who came into contact with her.) 4 »PERSON WHO CAN HELP« a person you know who may be able to help you or give you advice about something  (He has a lot of contacts in the media.) 5 »SITUATION/PROBLEM« experience of dealing with a particular kind of situation or problem  (bring sb into contact with sth)  (Pat's job brought her into contact with the problems people face when they retire.) 6 point of contact a) a place that you go to or a person that you meet when dealing with an organization  (Primary health care teams are the first point of contact for users of the health service.) b) a way in which two very different things are connected  (It's difficult to find a point of contact between theory and practice.) 7 »ELECTRICAL PART« an electrical part that completes a circuit (4) when it touches another part 8 »EYES« a contact lens  (- see also eye contact eye1 (9)) ~2 v to write to or telephone someone  (Give the names of two people who can be contacted in case of emergency.) ~3 adj only before noun 1 a contact number or address is a telephone number or address where someone can be found if necessary  (The school requires a contact number for each child.) 2 contact explosives or chemicals become active when they touch something  (Contact poisons are widely used in pest control.)