| a. | 1. | Having self-control; reserved; uncommunicative; wholly engrossed in one's self. | ||||||
| 2. | (Mach.) Having all the essential working parts connected by a bedplate or framework, or contained in a case, etc., so that mutual relations of the parts do not depend upon fastening outside of the machine itself.
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| Adj. | 1. | self-contained - constituting a complete and independent unit in and of itself; "the university is like a self-contained city with shops and all amenities" |
| 2. | self-contained - in full control of your faculties; "the witness remained collected throughout the cross-examination"; "perfectly poised and sure of himself"; "more self-contained and more dependable than many of the early frontiersmen"; "strong and self-possessed in the face of trouble" |