non-contactn.adj.

1850 Sci. Amer. 2 Nov. 51 This arrangement admits of a part of the battery being used without disturbing the remainder, and most effectively obviates the great liability of non-contact.

1874 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 164 526 The rapidly formed skin of vapour is held to be a sufficient cause of non-contact.

1907 Philos. Rev. 16 64 The mysterious is dreaded as containing some dire infection which must be avoided either by non-contact or ceremonial purification.

1974 Public Opinion Q. 38 258 Interviewers used this service only after they had made at least two attempts resulting in noncontact.

2000 Jrnl. Advertising Res. (Nexis) Jan. 85 Repeated calls are often used in mail, telephone, and personal interview surveys to achieve a good response rate and reduce bias due to noncontacts.

1879 W. D. Whitney Sanskrit Gram. 60 The tip of the tongue,..reverted into the loose lingual position by the utterance of a non-contact lingual element.

1925 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 109 513 The high-frequency current was measured by a non-contact thermo-ammeter.

1946 Nature 14 Sept. 366/1 Both the British and the Germans used what are known as these non-contact pistols with considerable success during the war.

1973 McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 230/2 Ink-jet writing..is not only nonimpact but noncontact... Dye inks are available in wide enough choice of colors to allow extremely good color reproduction when needed.

1997 Metalworking Production June 37/1 Rotary Electro Discharge Grinder... Although not as accurate as grinding, rotary EDM is non-contact which keeps the workpiece cool and eliminates ‘push-off’.

1942 I. E. Bender et al. Motivation & Visual Factors v. 63 He is, nevertheless, not an outstanding athlete; he has a decided preference for ‘non-contact sports’.

1970 N.Y. Times 26 Sept. 35/1 The rule was relaxed..in an experimental New York State Education Department program that allowed girls and boys to compete in such non-contact sports as swimming, golf, tennis, bowling, and riflery.

1985 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 30 Mar. iii. 1/1 Even though basketball is a non-contact sport, the Lakers took it to ridiculous extremes Friday night.

1996 Calgary (Alberta) Herald 1 Feb. 21 Non-contact, shinney hockey for those 55 or over. Equipment and helmet mandatory.

2000 Rugby World June 145/1 Tag rugby is a form of non-contact rugby, suitable for young children or even a family game at the local park.

1981 Family Planning Perspectives 13 165/3 The areas between bars represent noncontact time for both patients and staff; this may be waiting time, or it may represent time spent in activities not requiring face-to-face patient-staff contact.

1988 D. Rees GCSE CDT—Design & Realisation ii. 6 Your time may be classified as ‘contact time’ and ‘non-contact time’. The ‘contact time’ is the time you are given on the time table.

1999 Times Educ. Suppl. 7 May (Appointments Suppl.) 98/3 (advt.) The successful candidate will be class based, but non-contact time will be allocated as appropriate in order to allow the post holder to carry out management and curricular responsibilities during the school sessions.