retract

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To pull (something) back or back inside.

   • An airplane retracts its wheels for flight.
   • The collector shoes are automatically retracted when the electric handle is moved from "service off" to "lock off".
2. 2

   To avert (one's eyes or a gaze).

3. 3

   To pronounce (a sound, especially a vowel) farther to the back of the vocal tract.

4. ›+ 14 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To hold back (something)

      To hold back (something); to restrain.

   2. 5

      To draw back

      To draw back; to draw up; to withdraw.

      • The bus was stuck at the stop as its wheelchair ramp wouldn’t retract after use.
      • Muscles retract after amputation.
   3. 6

      An act of retracting or withdrawing (a mistake, a statement, etc.)

      An act of retracting or withdrawing (a mistake, a statement, etc.); a retraction.

   4. 7

      A pulling back, especially (military) of an army or military troops

      A pulling back, especially (military) of an army or military troops; a pull-back, a retreat; also, a signal for this to be done.

   5. 8

      A subgroup of a given group such that there is a surjective endomorphism from the ambient…

      A subgroup of a given group such that there is a surjective endomorphism from the ambient group to the subgroup which is constant on the subgroup; in this case the subgroup is a retract of the ambient group. In symbols: H in G is a retract of G if there exists a surjective homomorphism σ from G to H with σ|_H= operatorname id.

   6. 9

      The target of a retraction.

   7. 10

      Synonym of retreat (“an act of accidentally injuring a horse's foot by incorrectly…

      Synonym of retreat (“an act of accidentally injuring a horse's foot by incorrectly nailing it during shoeing”).

   8. 11

      To cancel or take back (something, such as an edict or a favour or grant previously…

      To cancel or take back (something, such as an edict or a favour or grant previously bestowed); to rescind, to revoke.

      • Fill'd with the Satisfaction of their own diſcerning Faculties, they [natural history writers] paſs Judgment at firſt ſight; write on, and are above being ever brought to retract it.
   9. 12

      To break or fail to keep (a promise, etc.)

      To break or fail to keep (a promise, etc.); to renege.

   10. 13

       To take back or withdraw (something that has been said or written)

       To take back or withdraw (something that has been said or written); to disavow, to repudiate.

       • I retract all the accusations I made about the senator and sincerely hope he won’t sue me.
       • And yet this Pope himſelf, not many years after, retracted this Bull; […]
       • She will, and ſhe will not; ſhe grants, denies, / Conſents, retracts, advances, and then flies, / Approving and rejecting in a Breath, / Now proff'ring Mercy, now preſenting Death!
   11. 14

       Originally in chess and now in other games as well

       Originally in chess and now in other games as well: to take back or undo (a move); specifically (card games) to take back or withdraw (a card which has been played).

   12. 15

       To decline or fail to do something promised

       To decline or fail to do something promised; to break one's word.

   13. 16

       Of something said or written (such as published academic work)

       Of something said or written (such as published academic work): to take back or withdraw.

   14. 17

       To change one's mind after declaring an intention to make a certain move.

The neighborhood

• neighbornonretraction
• neighborretraction
• neighborretractive
• neighborretreat
• neighborretractate
• neighborretractation
• neighborretractative
• neighborepanorthosis