recoil

plural recoils

1. countableuncountableA starting or falling back; a rebound; a shrinking.

   the recoil of nature, or of the blood

2. countableuncountableThe state or condition of having recoiled.

   The recoil from formalism is skepticism.

   1850, Frederick William Robertson, second address delivered to the members of the Working Men's Institute, Brighton

3. countableuncountableengineeringThe energy transmitted back to the shooter from a firearm which has fired. Recoil is a function of the weight of the weapon, the weight of the projectile, and the speed at which it leaves the muzzle.
4. countableuncountableAn escapement in which, after each beat, the scape-wheel recoils slightly.

present singular third person recoils · participle present recoiling · participle past recoiled · past recoiled · alternative recoyle

1. intransitiveTo pull back, especially in disgust, horror or astonishment.First known use 16th c.

   He recoiled in disgust when he saw the mess.

   1 more example

   For decades, humankind steeled itself for the rise of thinking machines. As we marveled at their ability to beat chess champions and predict protein structures, we also recoiled from their inherent uncanniness, not to mention the threats to our sense of humanity.

   2025 December 11, Charlie Campbell, Andrew R. Chow and Billy Perrigo, “The Architects of AI Are TIME’s 2025 Person of the Year”, in Time

2. archaicintransitiveTo recoil before an opponent.First known use 14th c.

   that rude rout […] forced them, how ever strong and stout / They were, as well approv'd in many a doubt, / Backe to recule […]

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

3. intransitiveengineeringOf a firearm: to quickly push back when fired.
4. intransitiveobsoleteTo retire, withdraw.First known use 15th–18th c.

   Evil on itself shall back recoil.

   Comus

   1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC

   5 more examples

   Ye both forwearied be: therefore a whyle / Iread you rest, and to your bowres recoyle.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   Thus vvhen this Courtly Gentleman vvith toyle / Himſelfe hath vvearied, he doth recoyle / Vnto his reſt, and there vvith ſvveete delight / Of Muſicks skill reuiues his toyled ſpright, […]

   1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC, signature O2, verso

   Her will, recoiling to her better judgement

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]

   Manners knovvs diſtance, and a man unrude / VVo'd ſoon recoile, and not intrude / His Stomach to a ſecond Meale.

   1648, Robert Herrick, “A Panegerick to Sir Lewis Pemberton”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], →OCLC, page 169

   The solemnity of her demeanor made it impossible […] that we should recoil into our ordinary spirits.

   1838, Thomas De Quincey, The Household Wreck