retire 
How oft we saw the sun retire, 
And burn the threshold of the night. 
Tennyson, The Voyage. 
4. To withdraw from business or active life. 
5. Specifically, to go to bed. 
Satisfied that his wife had not been from home that 
evening, ... he fell into raptures with her. . . . They 
then sat down to half an hour s cheerful conversation, af- 
ter which they retired all in the most perfect good humour. 
Fielding, Amelia, x. 3. 
Our landlady's daughter said, the other evening, that 
she was going to retire ; whereupon ... the schoolmis- 
tress [saidj ... in good plain English that It was her 
l>ed-time. 0. W. Holmes, Autocrat, ix. 
6. To slope back ; recede ; retreat. 
The grounds which on the right aspire, 
In dimness from the view retire. 
T. Parnell, Night-Piece on Death. 
= 8yn. 1 and 2. To depart, recede. See retreat^. 
retire (re-tir'), . [= It. retiro; from the verb: 
see retire, i\] 1. The act of retiring; with- 
drawal. Specifically (at) Return ; removal to a former 
place or position. 
She conjures him hy high almighty Jove . . . 
That to his borrow'd bed he make retire. 
Shale., Lucrece, 1. 573. 
(61) Ketreat, especially in war. 
From oft our towers we might behold, 
From fast to last, the onset and retire 
Of both your armies. Shak., K. John, ii. 1. 326. 
But chasing the eneraie so farre for our recouerie as 
ponder and arrowes wanted, the Spaniardes perceiuing 
this returned and in our mens retire they slewe six of 
them. Hakluyt's Voyages, quoted in K. Eden's First 
[Books on America (ed. Arber), p. xx. 
(< > Retirement ; withdrawal into privacy or seclusion ; 
hence, a state of retirement. 
Eve . . . with audible lament 
Discover'd soon the place of her retire. 
Milton, P. L., xi. 267. 
By some freakful chance he made retire 
From his companions, and set forth to walk. 
Kfti/i, Lamia, i. 
2f. A place of retirement or withdrawal. 
This worlds gay showes, which we admire, 
Be hut vaine shadowes to this safe retyre 
Of life, which here in lowlinesse ye lead. 
Spenser, F. Q., VI. ix. 27. 
And unto Calais (to his strong retire) 
With speed betakes him. 
Daniel, Civil Wars, vii. 18. 
3f. Repair; resort. 
All his behaviours did make their retire 
To the court of his eye, peeping thorough desire. 
Shak., L. L. L., ii. 1. 234. 
retired(re-tird'),p.a. [Pp. of retire, v.~] 1. Se- 
cluded from society or from public notice ; apart 
from public view. 
Since the exile of Posthumus, most retired 
Hath her life been. Shak., Cymbeline, iii. 5. 36. 
And add to these retired Leisure, 
That in trim gardens takes liis pleasure. 
Milton, 11 Penseroso, 1. 49. 
2. Withdrawn from public comprehension or 
knowledge; private; secret. 
Language most shews a man : Speak, that I may see 
thee. It springs out of the most retired and inmost parts 
of us. B. Jonson, Discoveries, Oratio Imago Animi. 
Those deepe and retired thoughts which, with every man 
Christianity instructed, ought to be most frequent 
Milton, Reformation in Eng., i. 
3. Withdrawn from business or active life; 
having given up business: as, a retired mer- 
chant. 
Roanne seem'd to me one of the pleasantest and most 
agreeable places imaginable for a retired person. 
Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 26, 1644. 
The English lord is a retired shopkeeper, and has the 
prejudices and timidities of that profession. 
Emerson, W. I. Emancipation. 
4. Given to seclusion ; inclining to retirement; 
also, characteristic of a retired life. 
There was one old lady of retired habits, but who had 
been much in Italy. Bulwer, My Novel, x. 2. 
Retired flank, in fart. , a flank having an arc of a circle 
with its convexity turned toward the rear ol the work. 
Retired list, in the army and navy, a list on which the 
names of officers disabled for active service are placed. In 
the United States navy, all officers between the grades of 
vice-admiral and lieutenant-commander must be retired 
at the age of sixty-two, and any officer may be retired on 
application after forty years of service; in the United 
States army, any officer is retired on application after 
forty years of service, and any officer after forty-five years 
of service, or at the age of sixty-two, may be retired at the 
discretion of the President. Officers on the retired list 
can be ordered on duty only in case of war. 
retiredly (re-tir'od-li), adv. In a retired man- 
ner; in solitude or privacy. Imp. Diet. 
retiredness (re-tir'ed-nes), . The character 
or state of being retired; seclusion; privacy; 
reserve. 
This king, with a toad-like retired, ten* of mind, had suf- 
fered, and well remembered what he had suffered, from 
the war in Thessalia. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, ii. 
5124 
I am glad you make this right use of this sweetness, 
This sweet retirednexs. 
Fletcher (and another?). Prophetess, v. 3. 
retirement (re-tir'ment), n. [< OK. (and F.) 
retirement = Sp. retiramiento = Pg. retiriiiiifutn 
= It. ritirameiito; as retire + -ment.] 1. The 
act of retiring or withdrawing from action, ser- 
vice, use, sight, public notice, or company; 
withdrawal: as, the retirement of an army from 
battle; the retirement of bonds; the retirement 
of invalid soldiers from service ; retirement into 
the country. 
I beseech your majesty, make up, 
Lest your retirement do amaze your friends. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., v. 4. 6. 
With the retirement of General Scott came the executive 
duty of appointing in his stead a general-in-chief of the 
army. Lincoln, in Raymond, p. 178. 
2. The state of being retired from society or 
public life ; seclusion ; a private manner of life. 
His addiction was to courses vain, . . . 
And never noted in him any study, 
Any retirement, any sequestration 
From open haunts and popularity. 
Shak., Hen. V., 1. 1. 58. 
Men of such a disposition generally affect retirement, 
and absence from public affairs. 
Bacon, Moral Fables, Iii., Expl. 
Few that court Retirement are aware 
Of half the toils they must encounter there. 
Cowper, Retirement, 1. 609. 
3. The state of being abstracted or withdrawn. 
Who can find it reasonable that the soul should, in its 
retirement, during sleep, have so many hours' thoughts, 
and yet never light on any of those ideas it borrowed not 
from sensation or reflection. 
Locke, Human Understanding, II. L 17. 
4. A retired or sequestered place ; a place to 
which one withdraws for privacy or freedom 
from public or social cares. 
The King, sir, . . . 
Is in his retirement marvellous distempered. 
SAa*., Hamlet, iii. 2. 312. 
A prison is but a retirement, and opportunity of serious 
thoughts, to a person whose spirit is confined, and apt to 
sit still, and desires no enlargement beyond the cancels 
of the body. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 251. 
5t. Recovery; retrieval. 
There be a sort of rnoodie, hot-brain'd, and alwayes un- 
edify'd consciences, apt to engage tbir Leaders into great 
and dangerous affaires past retirement. 
Milton, Eikonoklastes, xxviii. 
= Svn. 2. Seclusion, Loneliness, etc. See solitude. 
retirer (re-tlr'er), n. One who retires or with- 
draws. 
retiring (re-tir'ing),j). a. [Ppr. of retire, i>.] 1. 
Departing'; retreating; going out of sight or 
notice. 
There are few men so wise that they can look even at the 
back of a retiring sorrow with composure. 
Lowell, Fireside Travels, p. 85. 
2. Fond of retirement ; disposed to seclusion ; 
shrinking from society or publicity ; reserved. 
Louis seemed naturally rather a grave, still, retiring 
man. Charlotte Brontf, Shirley, xxiii. 
He (the rhinoceros] developed a nimbleness of limb and 
ferocity of temper that might hardly have been expected 
of so bulky and retiring an individual. 
P. Robinson, Under the Sun, p. 172. 
3. Unobtrusive; modest; quiet; subdued: as, 
a person of retiring manners. 
She seemed fluttered, too, by the circumstance of en- 
tering a strange house ; for it appeared her habits were 
most retiring and secluded. Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xii. 
In general, colours which are most used for the expres- 
sion of ... shade have been called retiring. 
Field's Chromatayraphy , p. 46. 
4. Granted to or suitable for one who retires, 
as from public employment or service. 
Binnie had his retiring pension, and, besides, had saved 
half his allowance ever since he had been in India. 
Thackeray, Newcomes, viii. 
= Syn. 2 and 3. Coy, bashful, diffident, shy. 
Retitelae (ret-i-te'le), n. pi. [NL.. < L. rete, a 
net, + tela, a web.] A tribe of sedentary spi- 
ders which spin webs whose threads cross ir- 
regularly in all directions. They are known as 
line-wearers. Walckenaer. 
Retitelariae (ret"i-te-la'ri-e), . pi. [NL., as 
Rctitelse + -arise.] Same as Ketitelte. 
retitelarian (ret"i-te-la'ri-an), a. and n. I. a. 
Of or pertaining to the Retitelarix. 
II. n. A retitelarian spider; a retiary. 
Also retetelarian. 
retoriant, and . See rltctorian. 
retorquet, v. t. [< OF. retorquer, < L. retor- 
quere, turn back: see retort 1 .'] To turn back: 
cause to revert. [Rare.] 
Shall we, in this detested guise, 
With shame, with hunger, and with horror stay, 
Griping our bowels with retargeted thoughts. 
IHarlwc. Tamburlaine the Great, v. 1. 237. 
retort 
retorsion (re-tor'shpn), . [= F. retnnsion = Sp. 
/ tnrxion = Pg. retorsao, < ML. rctorsio(n-), re- 
/'irlHi(n-), a twisting or bending back, < L. re- 
inrqnere, pp. retortus, twist back: see retort 1 , r. 
( 'f. retortion.'] The act of retorting; retaliation ; 
specifically, in international line, the adoption 
toward another nation or its subjects of a line 
of treatment in accordance with the course 
pursued by itself or them in the like circum- 
stances. It implies peaceful retaliation. Also 
written retortion. 
Reprisals differ from retorsion in this, that the essence of 
the former consists in seizing the property of another na- 
tion by way of security, until it shall have listened to the 
just reclamations of the offended party, while retorsion 
includes all kinds of measures which do an injury to an- 
other, similar and equivalent .to that which we have ex- 
perienced from him. Woolsey, introd. to Inter. Law, 114. 
retort 1 (re-tdrf), '' [< ME. retorten, retourteii. 
retort, return, < OF. retort (< L. retortus), retor- 
tlre, F. retordre, also retorqner, twist back, = 
Sp. Pg. retorcer = It. ritorcere, < L. retorquere, 
twist back, turn back, cast back (argumentum 
retorquere, retort an argument), < re-, back, + 
torquere, twist : see tort.] I. trans. If. To twist 
back; bend back by twisting or curving; turn 
back. 
It would be tried, how . . . the voice will be carried in 
an horn, which is a line arched ; or in a trumpet, which 
i a line retorted; or in some pipe that were sinuous. 
Bacon, Nat. Hist., 132. 
2f. To throw back; specifically, to reflect. 
As when his virtues, shining upon others, 
Heat them, and they retort that heat again 
To the flrst giver. Shak., T. and C., iii. 3. 101. 
Dear sir, retort me naked to the world 
Rather then lay those burdens on me, which 
Will stifle me. Brome, Jovial Crew, 1. 
He pass'd 
Long way through hostile scorn, . . . 
And, with retorted scorn, his back he turn'd. 
Hilton, P. L., v. 906. 
3t. To cast back ; reject ; refuse to accept or 
grant. 
The duke 's unjust 
Thus to retort your manifest appeal. 
SAa*., 11. for M., v. I. 303. 
4. To return ; turn back or repel, as an argu- 
ment, accusation, manner of treatment, etc., 
upon the originator; retaliate: rarely applied 
to the return of kindness or civility. 
We shall retort these kind favours with all alacrity of 
spirit. B. Jonson, Case is Altered, i. 2. 
He . . . discovered the errors of the Roman church, 
retorted the arguments, stated the questions. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 76. 
He was eminently calculated to exercise that moral pride 
which enables a poet to defy contemporary criticism, to 
retort contemporary scorn. Whipple, tss. and Rev., I. 234. 
5. To reply resentfully. 
What if thy sou 
Prove disobedient, and, reproved, retort 
Wherefore didst thou beget me? I sought it not, 
Hilton, P. L., x. 761. 
II. intrans. If. To curve, twist, or coil back. 
Her hairs as Gorgon's foul retorting snakes. 
Greene, Ditty. 
This line, thus curve and thus orbicular. 
Render direct and perpendicular ; 
But so direct, that in no sort 
It ever may in Rings retort. 
Congrece, An Impossible Thing. 
2. To retaliate ; turn back an argument, accu- 
sation, or manner of treatment upon the origi- 
nator ; especially, to make a resentful reply ; re- 
spond in a spirit of retaliation. 
He took a joke without retorting hy an impertinence. 
O. W. Bolmet, Old Vol. of Life, p. 43. 
Charles, who could not dissemble his indignation during 
this discourse, retorted with great acrimony when it was 
concluded. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 1. 
3f. To return. 
sif they retourte asen.by Jerusalem. 
Lydgate, MS. Soc. Antiq. 134, f. 24. (Halliicell.) 
retort 1 (re-tort'), n. [< retort*, >.] The act of 
retorting; the repelling of an argument, accu- 
sation, or incivility; hence, that which is re- 
torted; a retaliatory act or remark ; especially, 
a sharp or witty rejoinder; a repartee. 
He sent me word, if I said his beard was not cut well, 
he was in the mind it was : this is called the Retort Cour- 
teous. Shak., As you Like it, v. 4. 76. 
The license of wit, the lash of criticism, and the retort 
of the libel suit, testified to the ofnciousness, as well as the 
usefulness, of the . . . "knights of the quill." 
The Century, XL. 314. 
= Syn. See repartee. 
retort 2 (re-tort'), n. [< OF. retnrte = Sp. Pg. re- 
tortti, < ML. "retorta, a retort, lit. 'a thing bent 
or twisted,' being in form identical with OF. 
reorte, riorte = It. ritorta, a band, tie, < ML. 
ri'tnrtii, a band, tie (of a vine); < L. retorta, 
