Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - contain

(contains, containing, contained) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If something such as a box, bag, room, or place contains things, those things are inside it. The bag contained a Christmas card... Factory shops contain a wide range of cheap furnishings... The 77,000-acre estate contains five of the highest peaks in Scotland. VERB: no cont, V n, V n, V n 2. If a substance contains something, that thing is a part of it. Many cars run on petrol which contains lead. VERB: no cont, V n 3. If writing, speech, or film contains particular information, ideas, or images, it includes them. This sheet contained a list of problems a patient might like to raise with the doctor... The two discs also contain two of Britten’s lesser-known song-cycles. VERB: no cont, V n, V n 4. If a group or organization contains a certain number of people, those are the people that are in it. The committee contains 11 Democrats and nine Republicans. VERB: no cont, V n 5. If you contain something, you control it and prevent it from spreading or increasing. More than a hundred firemen are still trying to contain the fire at the plant... VERB: V n 6. If you cannot contain a feeling such as excitement or anger, or if you cannot contain yourself, you cannot prevent yourself from showing your feelings. But he was bursting with curiosity, and one day he just couldn’t contain himself. ‘What are you going to do?’ he asked... Evans could barely contain his delight: ‘I’m so proud of her,’ he said. VERB: V pron-refl, V n 7. see also self-contained