recoil - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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From Old French reculer.
recoil (countable and uncountable, plural recoils)
- A starting or falling back; a rebound; a shrinking.
the recoil of nature, or of the blood
- The state or condition of having recoiled.
1850, Frederick William Robertson, second address delivered to the members of the Working Men's Institute, Brighton:
The recoil from formalism is skepticism.
- (firearms) The 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.
- An escapement in which, after each beat, the scape-wheel recoils slightly.
- (firearms): kick
pushback from a fired firearm
- Bulgarian: откат (bg) m (otkat)
- Chinese:
- Czech: zpětný ráz m
- Danish: rekyl c
- Dutch: terugslag (nl) c
- Faroese: baksláttur m
- Finnish: rekyyli (fi), potkaisu (fi)
- French: recul (fr) m
- German: Rückstoß (de) m
- Italian: rinculo (it) m
- Japanese: 反動 (ja) (はんどう, handō), 後座 (ja) (こうざ, kōza)
- Macedonian: отскок m (otskok)
- Maori: whana
- Norwegian: rekyl m, tilbakeslag n, tilbakestøt n, tilbakevirkning m
- Occitan: recul m
- Polish: odrzut m
- Portuguese: coice (pt) m, recuo (pt) m
- Romanian: recul (ro) n
- Russian: отда́ча (ru) f (otdáča)
- Spanish: retroceso (es) m
- Swedish: rekyl (sv) c
- Tagalog: balisikad
recoil (third-person singular simple present recoils, present participle recoiling, simple past and past participle recoiled) (intransitive)
- To pull back, especially in disgust, horror or astonishment. [from 16th c.]
He recoiled in disgust when he saw the mess.
- (archaic) To retreat before an opponent. [from 14th c.]
- (weaponry) Of a firearm: to quickly push back when fired.
- (obsolete) To retire, withdraw. [15th–18th c.]
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]:
Her will, recoiling to her better judgement
1634 October 9 (first performance), [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:
Evil on itself shall back recoil.
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:
Manners knovvs diſtance, and a man unrude / VVo'd ſoon recoile, and not intrude / His Stomach to a ſecond Meale.
1838, Thomas De Quincey, The Household Wreck:
The solemnity of her demeanor made it impossible […] that we should recoil into our ordinary spirits.
to pull back, especially in disgust, horror or astonishment
- Bulgarian: отдръпвам се (otdrǎpvam se)
- Chinese:
- Czech: stáhnout se pf, odtáhnout se pf, ucuknout pf, zhrozit se (cs) pf
- Danish: trække sig tilbage (da)
- Dutch: terugtrekken (nl), terugdeinzen (nl), terugschrikken (nl)
- Finnish: hätkähtää (fi)
- French: reculer (fr)
- German: zurückschrecken (de)
- Hungarian: visszahőköl (hu), hátrahőköl (hu), elborzad (hu), visszaretten (hu), elretten (hu), megrökönyödik (hu), eliszonyodik (hu)
- Italian: ritrarsi
- Japanese: 跳ね返る (ja) (はねかえる, hanekaeru)
- Latin: recellō
- Maori: eti, komi, maopo
- Norwegian: rekylere, spenne tilbake, sprette tilbake, springe tilbake, trekke seg tilbake, gyse tilbake
- Occitan: recular (oc)
- Ottoman Turkish: پوصمق (pusmak) (in fear)
- Portuguese: recuo, coice (da arma)
- Romanian: recula (ro)
- Russian: отпря́дывать (ru) (otprjádyvatʹ) (impf. form is rare) impf, отпря́нуть (ru) pf (otprjánutʹ), отша́тываться (ru) impf (otšátyvatʹsja), отшатну́ться (ru) pf (otšatnútʹsja)
- Serbo-Croatian: устукнути (ustuknuti)
- Spanish: echarse atrás, recular (es)
of a firearm, to push back