retract

present singular third person retracts · participle present retracting · participle past retracted · past retracted

1. transitiveTo pull (something) back or back inside.

   An airplane retracts its wheels for flight.

   1 more example

   The collector shoes are automatically retracted when the electric handle is moved from "service off" to "lock off".

   1962 June, “The Design of the S.R. Electro-diesels”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allen Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 393

   Synonyms: pull back

   1. specificallytransitivebiologyTo draw (an extended body part) back into the body.

      A cat can retract its claws.

      Synonyms: pull back · Antonyms: extend, protrude

2. raretransitiveTo avert (one's eyes or a gaze).
3. transitivehuman sciencesTo pronounce (a sound, especially a vowel) farther to the back of the vocal tract.
4. obsoletetransitiveTo hold back (something); to restrain.
5. intransitiveTo draw back; to draw up; to withdraw.

   Muscles retract after amputation.

   1 more example

   The bus was stuck at the stop as its wheelchair ramp wouldn’t retract after use.

plural retracts

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

   [T]hey began to finde fault with Poeſie, […] ſaying, that metaphors æmigmaticall, and covert words, yea and the ambiguities which Poetry uſeth, were but ſhifts, retracts, and evaſions to hide and cover all, whenſoever the events fell not out accordingly.

   1603, Plutarch, “Why the Prophetesse Pythia Giveth No Answers Now from the Oracle in Verse or Meeter”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 1199A

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

   Theſe Græcians alſo that made the retract, aduiſed Darius [III] to retire his Armie into the plaine of Meſopotamia, to the end that Alexander being entred into thoſe large fields and great Champions, he might haue inuironed the Macedonians on all ſides with his multitude; […]

   1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], “Of Alexander the Great”, in The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, 4th book, §. IIII (Of the Vnwarlike Armie Leauied by Darivs against Alexander. […]), page 179

3. obsoletegroup theoryA 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.
4. obsoletemathematicsThe target of a retraction.
5. obsoleteSynonym of retreat (“an act of accidentally injuring a horse's foot by incorrectly nailing it during shoeing”).

   Synonyms: retreat

present singular third person retracts · participle present retracting · participle past retracted · past retracted · first person past singular retracted · archaic present second person singular retractest · past second person singular retracted · archaic past second person singular retractedst · present singular third person retracts · archaic present singular third person retracteth · past singular third person retracted · past plural retracted · past subjunctive retracted · participle present retracting · participle past retracted

1. obsoletetransitiveTo 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.

   1729, J[ohn] Woodward, “Preface to the Whole”, in An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England; […], tome I, London: […] F[rancis] Fayram, […]; J[ohn] Senex, […]; and J. Osborn and T[homas] Longman, […], →OCLC, part II (A Catalogue of the English Fossils in the Collection of J. Woodward […]), page 6

2. obsoletetransitiveTo break or fail to keep (a promise, etc.); to renege.
3. obsoletetransitiveTo 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.

   3 more examples

   And yet this Pope himſelf, not many years after, retracted this Bull; […]

   1671, Edward Stillingfleet, A Discourse Concerning the Idolatry Practised in the Church of Rome, […], 2nd edition, London: […] Robert White for Henry Mortlock […], →OCLC, page 363

   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!

   1710, [George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne], “The British Enchanters; or, No Magick Like Love. A Dramatick Poem. […]”, in Poems upon Several Occasions, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], published 1712, →OCLC, act I, scene i, page 195

   He has also suggested in a newspaper interview that China could be appeased if it were given partial control of Taiwan. An official in Taipei demanded that he retract his suggestion.

   2022 October 26, Cade Metz, Adam Satariano, Chang Che, “How Elon Musk Became a Geopolitical Chaos Agent”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Synonyms: unsay, unspeak, walk back, withcall, withdraw, abjure, backpedal, disavow · Antonyms: affirm, confirm, maintain

4. obsoletetransitivegamesOriginally 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).
5. intransitiveobsoleteTo decline or fail to do something promised; to break one's word.
6. intransitiveobsoleteOf something said or written (such as published academic work): to take back or withdraw.

   1 more example

   "Challenger was the man who came with some cock-and-bull story from South America." / "What story?" / "Oh, it was rank nonsense about some queer animals he had discovered. I believe he has retracted since. Anyhow, he has suppressed it all. He gave an interview to Reuter's, and there was such a howl that he saw it wouldn't do.["]

   1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘‘Try Your Luck with Professor Challenger’’”, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 23

7. archaicintransitiveobsoletecard gamesTo change one's mind after declaring an intention to make a certain move.