Other forms: contains, containing, contained
If a box contains something, that thing is inside it. The tin contains biscuits, the bottle contains two litres, this cake contains nuts.
It is the word on labels and warnings — contains milk, contains traces of peanuts — and the word for saying what is in a text: the report contains a chapter on costs. The other meaning is holding something back before it spreads: firefighters contain a blaze, a government contains an outbreak, and you contain your anger or fail to contain your excitement. A container is anything you put things in, from a plastic tub to a steel box on a ship. One trap — contain takes no continuous form, so the box contains six eggs is right and the box is containing six eggs is not.
1verbcontainTo have something inside.
“The envelope contained a single photograph.”
2verbincludeTo include something as one of its parts.
“The course contains three weeks of unpaid work.”
3verbstopTo stop something from spreading or getting worse.
“Crews worked all night to contain the fire.”
4verbkeepTo keep a strong feeling under control.
“He could barely contain his delight.”
Contain arrived through Middle English conteinen and Old French contenir from Latin continere, to hold or keep together: con-, together, plus teneo, to hold. The picture inside the word is a thing holding its parts together so they do not spill.
Old French
contenir
Middle English
conteinen
English, today
contain
Built from
From Middle English conteinen, from Old French contenir. From Middle English conteinen, borrowed from Old French contenir, from Latin continēre (“to hold or keep together, comprise, contain”), combined form of con- (“together”) + teneō (“to hold”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA