This is what is done in the documentation of many financial 'over the counter' derivatives trades. There's a big book of definitions, which everyone signs up t

This is what is done in the documentation of many financial 'over the counter' derivatives trades. There's a big book of definitions, which everyone signs up to (part of the process of creating an 'ISDA Master' with each dealer). And the documentation of each derivative trade amounts to a couple of pages that sets out the key terms (maturity date, rates, currencies, etc) using the main definition document as a source for the major terms, while overriding key distinctive points, as necessary. After a while, if/when 'market convention' drifts such that everyone is overriding definitions in the same way, a new 'Definitions' document is created, and people start to work off that.