RET 
Swift have placed it on the last.] Sale by small quantities, or 
at second hand. 
Then mother church did mightily prevail. 
She parcell’d out the bible by retail. Dryden # 
RETAIL'ER, s. One who sells by small quantities.— 
From these particulars we may guess at the rest, as retailers 
do of the whole piece, by taking a view of its ends. Hake- 
will. —One who sells in broken parts, or at second hand.— 
The admirable Sir Isaac Newton, a much better philosopher, 
I do not say merely, than Epicurus, or Lucretius, or any of 
the more modern retailers of their blunders; but even than 
any of the most celebrated ones, whether of ancient or modem 
times. Coventry.■ 
To RETAI'N, v. a. [ retineo , Lat. retenir, Fr.] To 
keep; not to lose. 
Where is the patience now. 
That you so oft have boasted to retain? Shakspeare. 
To keep ; not lay aside. 
Let me retain 
The name and all the addition to a king; 
The sway, beloved sons, be yours. Shakspeare. 
To keep; not to dismiss. 
Hollow rocks retain 
The sound of blustering winds. Milton. 
To keep in pay; to hire. See the last sense of Retainer. 
—A Benedictine convent has now retained the most learned 
f ather of their order to write in its defence. Addison. — 
Larazus’s ease is to come on next, and this fee is to retain 
you on his side. Sherlock. —To withhold ; to keep back. 
[Fr. retenir. ] Not in use.-— He laid him bleeding on the 
ground, and had killed him if his brother Robert had not 
retained him, and made him sensible how much more it con¬ 
cerned him to make his escape than pursue his revenge. 
Temple. 
To RETAI'N, v. n. To belong to; to depend on.— 
In animals many actiofls depend upon their living form, as 
well as that of mixtion, and though they wholly seem to 
retain to the body, depart upon disunion. Brown. —To 
keep; to continue. Not in use. Perhaps it should be 
remain. 
No more can impure man retain and move 
In the pure region of that worthy love, r r' 
Than earthly substance can unforc’d aspire, 
And leave his nature to converse with fire. Donne. 
RETAIN'ER, s. An adherent; a dependant; a hanger- 
on. "S. 
You now are mounted, 
Where pow’rs are your retainers. Shakspeare. 
In common law, retainer signifieth a servant not menial 
nor familiar, that is not dwelling in his house ; but only 
using or bearing his name or livery. Cowel.- —The act of 
keeping dependants, or being in dependance.—By another 
law, the king’s officers and farmers were to forfeit their places 
and holds, in case of unlawful retainer , or partaking in un¬ 
lawful assemblies. Bacon. —One that retains, or loses not.— 
One that has forgot the common meaning of words, but 
an admirable retainer of the sound. Swift. —A retaining 
fee; a fee advanced to counsel to retain his services in a 
trial.-—You are men of too much sense, I am sure, to be 
found on the side of Jannes and Jambres, or to take a re¬ 
tainer from Simon Magus. Bp. Horne. 
The livery anciently given by great men to their retainers 
was frequently for the maintenance of quarrels; whence it 
was justly prohibited by several statutes; as under Richard 
II. on pain of imprisonment, and grievous forfeiture to the 
king. ’ . 
It was further prohibited by other statutes of the succeed¬ 
ing kings, by which the delinquents were subject to make 
ransom at the king’s pleasure; and knights and esquires 
hereof duly attainted were to lose their said liveries, and 
forfeit their fees for ever. 
Vol. XXII. No. 1481. 
RET 
17 
Edward IV. added a special penalty of five pounds per 
month on every man that gave such livery, and as much 
on every person so retained, either by writing, word, or 
oath. But most of these statutes are repealed by a statute, 
3 Car. I. 
To RETA'KE, v. a. To take again.—A day should be 
appointed, when the remonstrance should be retaken into 
considerajion. Clarendon. 
To RETA'LIATE, v. a. [re and talio, Lat. retalionner, 
Fr.] To return by giving like for like; to repay; to 
requite: it may be used of good or evil. 
RETALIATION, s. Requital; return of like for like.— 
God, graciously becoming our debtor, takes what is done to 
others as done to himself, and by promise obliges himself to 
full retaliation. Calamy. 
To RETA'RD, v. a. [retardo, Lat.] To hinder; to 
obstruct in swiftness of course. 
Now Iphitus with me, and Pelias 
Slowly retire ; the one retarded was 
By feeble age, the other by a wound. Denham. 
To delay; to put off.—It is as natural to delay a letter at 
such a season, as to retard a melancholy visit to a person one 
cannot relieve. Pope. 
To RETA'RD, v. n. To stay back.—Some years it hath 
also retarded , and come far later, than usually it was expected. 
Brown. 
RETARDATION, s. [retardation, Fr.] Hindrance; 
the act of delaying.—Out of this a man may devise the 
means of altering the colour of birds, and the retardation 
of hoary hairs. Bacon. 
RETA'RDER, s. Hinderer; obstructer.—This disput¬ 
ing way of enquiry, is so far from advancing science, that 
it is no inconsiderable retarder. Glanville. 
RETAR'DMENT, s. Act of delaying or keeping back. 
—Very probable reasons were offered to justify every new 
retardment. Burnet. 
To RETCH, v. n. [hpaecan, Saxon; hraekia, Ieel.] 
—To force up something from the stomach. It is commonly 
written reach. 
RETCH, or Retches, a name given by our farmers 
to an iron, or a pair of irons, which in the common 
plough serve to fasten the sheet to the beam. The retches 
are fastened to the sheet with nails, and to the beam with 
pins. , v: 
RE'TCHLESS, adj. [sometimes written wretchlcss, 
properly reckless. See Reckless.] Careless. 
He struggles into breath, and cries for aid; 
Then helpless in his mother’s lap is laid : 
He creeps, he walks, and issuing into man, 
Grudges their life, from whence his own began; 
Retchless of laws, affects to rule alone. Dry den 
RET'E, s. [Lat.] A web or network; a term much 
used in anatomy; thus we have Rete Malpighii, for the 
network composing the structure of the lungs.— Rete Mira- 
bile, for the plexus of vessels formed by the internal 
carotid arteries of animals, before they branch out to the 
brain.— Rete Mucosum, for the integument interposed 
between the cuticle and the true skin, in which the colour 
of the skin resides.— Rete Testis, for a part of the 
excretory apparatus of the testicle. See Anatomy. 
RETE'CTION, s. [retectus, Lat.] The act of disco¬ 
vering to the view.—This is rather a restoration of a body 
to its own colour, or a refection of its native colour, than a 
change. Boyle. 
IlETENEGI, a name used by Avicenna, and others, to 
express the common resin of the pine, or fir-tree, and 
sometimes common black pitch. 
RETENTA, a word used by the old medical writers to 
express things retained in the body, and which should not be 
retailed in a state of good health. For Retentio Urin^e, 
see Pathology. 
RETE'NTION, s. [retentio, from retentus, Lat.] 
—The act of retaining; the power of retaining. 
F No 
