retain 
In whose armie followed William Longespee, accom- 
panied with a piked number of English warriors retaining 
vnto him. Ilakluyt's Voyage*, II. 34. 
retainable (re-ta'na-bl), a. [< retain + -able,] 
Capable of being retained, 
retainal (re-ta'nal), n. [< retain + -a?.] The 
act of retaining. Annual Bev., II. (1804), p. 631. 
[Rare.] 
retaindershipt (re-tan'der-ship), n. [For re- 
tainersliip : see retainer and -ship.] The state 
of being a retainer or dependent. 
It was the policy of these kings to make them all [clergy 
and nobility] of their own livery or retaindership. 
ff. Bacon. (Imp. Diet.) 
retainer 1 (re-ta'ner), . [Formerly also re- 
tainour; < JfE. "retainour; < retain + -er 1 . Cf. 
OF. reteneur (Sp. retenedor, It. retenitore), a re- 
tainer, detainer, < retenir, retain: see retain.] 
1. One who or that which retains. 
5120 
a. retaining wall ; *, f, breast-walls. 
One that has forgot the common meaning of words, but 
an admirable retainer of the sound. 
Swift, Tale of a Tub, ; 9. 
2. One who is kept in service ; a dependent ; 
an attendant ; especially, a follower wno wears 
his master's livery, but ranks higher than a 
domestic. 
In common law, retainer signifleth a servant not menial 
nor familiar that Is, not dwelling in his house, but only 
using or bearing his name and livery. Coweu. 
If we once forsake the strict rules of Religion and Good- 
ness, and are ready to yield our selves to whatever hath 
got retainers enough to set up for a custom, we may know 
where we begin, but we cannot where we shall make an 
end. StiUingJUet, Sermons, I. it. 
Kendall, a needy retainer of the court, who had, in obe- 
dience to the royal mandate, been sent to Parliament by 
a packed corporation in Cornwall. 
ilaraulaii, Hist. Em,'., vi. 
Another [abuse of maintenance], and that more directly 
connected with the giving of liveries, was the gathering 
round the lord's household of a swarm of armed retainer! 
whom the lord could not control, and whom he conceived 
himself bound to protect. AViiMw, Const. Hist, I 470. 
3. A sutler, camp-follower, or any person serv- 
ing with an army who, though not enlisted, is 
subject to orders according to the rules and 
articles of war. 4. One who is connected with 
or frequents a certain place ; an attendant. 
That indulgence and undisturbed liberty of conscience 
. . . which the retainers to every petty conventicle enjoy. 
Blactstone, Com., IV. iv. 
retainer 2 (re-ta'ner), n. [Formerly also re- 
tainour; < OF. retenir, retain, inf. used as a 
noun : see retain. Cf. detainer 2 .] If. The act 
of retaining dependents ; entrance into service 
as a retainer; the state of being a retainer. 
The Kings Officers and Farmors were to forfeit their 
Places and Holds in case of unlawfull Retainer, or partak- 
ing in limits and unlawful! Assemblies. 
Bacon, Hist. Hen. VII., p. 66. 
2. That by which a person's services are se- 
cured; a fee. 
The same Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, hath allured 
and drawn unto him by retainourg many of your subjects. 
Bp. Burnet, Records, I. ill., No. 16. 
3. Specifically, in law : (a) Same as retaining 
fee (which see, under fee 1 ). (6) An authority 
given to an attorney or a solicitor to pro- 
ceed in an action, (c) The unlawful taking 
or detention of a known servant from his 
master during the period of service. Robin- 
son, (d) The act of an executor or adminis- 
trator who is a creditor of the decedent, or 
whose estate he represents, in withholding from 
the fund so much as will pay what is due him: 
formerly allowed to be done even before any 
other creditors whose debts were of equal de- 
gree were paid. -General retainer, a fee given by a 
party to secure a priority of claim on the counsel's ser- 
vices for any case that he may have in any court which 
that counsel attends. Special retainer, a fee for a par- 
ticular case which is expected to come on. 
retainership (re-ta'ner-ship), n. [< retainer* + 
-ship.] The state of being a retainer or follow- 
er; hence, a feeling of loyalty or attachment 
to a chief. [Bare.] 
All the few in whom yet lingered any shadow of retain- 
ership toward the fast-fading chieftainship of Glen warlock 
seemed to cherish the notion that the heir of the house 
had to be tended and cared for like a child. 
G. MacDonald, Warlock o' Glenwarlock, xiii. 
retaining (re-ta'ning), p. a. [Ppr. of retain, v.] 
Keeping in possession; serving to retain ; keep- 
ing back; engaging. -Retaining fee. See fet\.- 
Retaining lien. See lien?. Retaining wall, a wall 
built to prevent a bank, as of earth, from slipping down or 
being washed away; a revetment. See cut in next column. 
retainment (re-tan'meut), . [< retain + 
-ment.] The act of retaining; retention. 
retain-wall (re-tan'wal), n. Same as retaining 
wall (which see, under retaining). 
retake (re-tak'), v. t. [< re- + take.] 1. To 
take again. 
A day should be appointed when the remonstrance 
should be retaken into consideration. Clarendon. 
Thy chair, a grief to ail the brethren, stands 
Vacant, but thou retalce it, mine again ! 
Tennyson, Balin and Balan. 
2. To take back ; recapture. 
retaker (re-ta'ker), n. [< retake + -er^.] One 
who takes again what has been taken ; a re- 
captor. Imp. Diet. 
retaliate (re-tal'i-at), v. ; pret. and pp. retali- 
ated, ppr. retaliating. [< L. retaliatus, pp. of 
retaliare, requite, retaliate (cf. talio, retaliation 
in kind; lex talionis, law of retaliation), < re-, 
back, again, + talis, such: see talion. Cf. re- 
tail 2 .] I. trans. To return in kind; repay or 
requite by an act of the same kind: now sel- 
dom or never used except in the sense of re- 
turning evil for evil: as, to retaliate injuries. 
Our ambassador sent word ... to the Duke's sonne 
his visit should be retaliated. 
Sir T. Herbert, Travels in Africa, p. 137. 
The kindness which he has graciously shown them may 
be retaliated on those of his own persuasion. 
Dryden, Hind and Panther, To the Reader. 
retardative 
Accidental causes retarded at times, and at times ac- 
celerated, the progress of the controversy. 
Webster, Speech at Plymouth, Dec. 22, 18-20. 
While, however, the predatory activities have not pre- 
vented the development of sympathy in the directions 
open to it, they have retarded it throughout its entire 
range. H. Spencer, Frin. of Psychol., J 512. 
2. To defer; postpone; put off . 
Those relations which describe the tricks and vices only 
of mankind, by increasing our suspicion in life, retard our 
success. Goldsmith, Vicar, xxvi. 
My friends, the time is coming when a State Church will 
be unknown in England, and it rests with you to accele- 
rate, or retard that nappy consummation. 
John Bright, in G. Barnett Smith, ii. 
Retarded motion, Inphysics, that motion which exhibits 
continual diminution of velocity, as the motion of a body 
projected upward. If the diminutions of velocity are 
equal in equal times, the motion Is said to be uniformly 
retarded. The laws of retarded motion are the same as 
those of accelerated motion, only the order is reversed. 
See acceleration. Retarding ague, a form of ague in 
which the paroxysm comes at a little later hour each day. 
= Syn. I. To detain, delay. 
II. intrans. To be delayed or later than usual. 
Some years it [the inundation of the Nile] hath also re- 
tarded, and came far later then usually it was expected. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vi. 8. 
retard (re-tard'), n. [= F. retard = Sp. retardo 
= It. ritardo; from the verb.] Retardation. 
In retard, retarded ; kept back ; delayed in growth or 
progress. 
A people of great natural capacities have been kept for 
centuries in retard. The Atlantic, LVIIL 516. 
Retard of the tide, the interval between the transit of 
the moon at which a tide originates and the appearance of 
the tide itself. 
retardant (re-tar'dant), a. [< L. retardan(t-)s, 
ppr. of retardare, retard: see retard.] Retard- 
ing ; tending to delay or impede motion, growth, 
or progress. [Rare.] 
English nation without prejudice. 
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 78. 
Our blood may boil at hearing of atrocities committed, 
without being able to ascertain how those atrocities were 
provoked, or now they may have been retaliated. 
W. R. Grey, Misc. Essays, 1st ser., p. 52. 
n. intrans. To return like for like ; especial- 
ly (now usually), to return evil for evil. 
Liberality . . . may lead the person obliged with the 
sense of the duty he lies under to retaliate. 
Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, Kvi 
= 8yn. See revenge, n. 
retaliation (re-tal-i-a'shon), n. [< L. as if *re- 
taliatio(n-), < retaliare, retaliate: see retaliate.] 
The act of retaliating ; the return of like for 
like; the doing of that to another which he has 
done to us ; especially (now usually), requital 
of evil; reprisal; revenge. 
First, I will shew you the antiquity of these manors. 
Secondly, I will a little discuss the ancient honour of this 
manor of Levenham. Thirdly, I will give you a touch 
what respects you are likely to find from me ; and fourthly, 
what retaliation I expect again from you. 
-V.S'. Hurl. 646. (Halliwell.) 
The lex talionis, or law of retaliation, can never be in all 
cases an adequate or permanent rule of punishment 
Blackstone, Com., IV. L 
= Syn. Retribution, Reprisal, etc. See revenge. 
retaliative (re-tal'i-a-tiv), a. [< retaliate + 
-ire.] Tending to or of the nature of retalia- 
tion; retaliatory; vindictive; revengeful. Quar- 
terly Rev. (Imp. Diet.) 
retaliatory (re-tal'i-a-to-ri), a. [< retaliate + 
-on/.] Pertaining to or of the nature of retal- 
iation. 
The armed neutrality was succeeded by retaliatory em- 
bargoes, and on the 2d of April, 1801, the battle of Copen- 
hagen prostrated the power of Denmark. 
Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, 191. 
retama (re-ta'ma or re-ta'ma), n. [< Sp. reta- 
ma, Ar. retama.] Any one of a small group of 
plants forming the section Retama (sometimes 
considered a genus Boissier, 1839), in the ge- 
nus Genista. They are yellow-flowered shrubs with rush- 
like branches, which are leafless or bear a few unifoliate 
leaves. They are found in the Mediterranean region and 
the Canaries. Some species are useful for fixing sands. 
The region of retama, the first bushes of which are met 
with at the pass which admits the traveller into the Llano 
de la Retama. Encyc. Brit., IV. 798. 
retard (re-tard'), v. [< OF. retarder, F. retarder 
= Pr. Sp. Pg. retardar = It. ritardare, < L. re- 
tardare, make slow, delay, < re-, back, + tar- 
dare, make slow, < tardus, slow : see tardy.] I. 
trans. 1 . To make slow or slower ; obstruct in 
motion or progress ; delay; impede; clog; hin- 
der. 
This will retard 
The work a month at least. 
B. Janton, Alchemist, iv. 3. 
retardation (re-tar-da'shon), n. [= OF. (and 
F.) retardation = Sp. retardacion = Pg. retar- 
dacSo = It. ritardazione, < L. retardatio(n-), < 
retardare, pp. retardatus, retard: see retard.] 
1. The act of retarding or making slower, or 
its effect; the hindering of motion, growth, or 
progress, or the hindrance effected ; the act of 
delaying or impeding. 
If the embryonic type were the offspring, then its fail- 
ure to attain to the condition of the parent is due to the 
supervention of a slower rate of growth ; to this phenom- 
enon the term retardation was applied. 
E. D. Cope, Origin of the Fittest, p. 125. 
2. In physics : (a) A continuous decrement of 
velocity; a negative acceleration. 
The fall of meteoric dust on to the earth must cause a 
small retardation of the earth's rotation, although to an 
amount probably quite insensible in a century. 
Thomson and Tail, Nat Phil., 830. 
It was generally supposed that the discrepancy between 
the theoretical and observed result is due to a retardation 
of the earth's rotation by the friction of the tides. 
C. A. Young, General Astronomy, 461. 
(6) In acoustics and optics, the distance by 
which one wave is behind another. Better call- 
ed retard, being translation of French retard. 
In reflexion at the surface of a denser medium the re- 
flected ray undergoes a retardation in respect to the Inci- 
dent ray of a half wave-length. 
Lommel, Light (trans.), p. 240. 
3f. Postponement; deferment. 
Out of this ground a man may devise the means of alter- 
ing the colour of birds, and the retardation of hoar hairs. 
Bacon, Nat. Hist, 851. 
4. Specifically, in music: (a) The act, process, 
or result of diminishing the speed or pace of the 
tempo. (6) The prolongation of a concordant 
tone into a chord where it is a discord which is 
resolved upward: opposed to anticipation, and 
distinguished from suspension by the upward 
resolution. [It would be well, however, if retarda- 
tion were made the generic term, with suspension as a 
species.] 
6. In teleg., decrease in the speed of telegraph- 
signaling due to self-induction and induction 
from surrounding conductors. 6. That which 
retards; a hindrance; an obstruction; an im- 
pediment. 
We find many persons who in seven years meet not 
with a violent temptation to a crime, but their battles are 
against Impediments and retardations of improvement. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 99. 
Retardation of mean solar time, the change of the 
mean sun's right ascension in a sidereal day, or the num- 
ber of seconds by which mean noon comes later each suc- 
cessive sidereal day, as if the mean sun hung back in its 
diurnal revolution. Retardation of the tides. See 
acceleration. 
retardative (re-tar'da-tiv), . [= F. retardatif 
= It. ritardatifo, < Li. retardatus, pp. of retar- 
dare, retard.] Tending to retard ; retarding. 
