Free TranslationFree Translation
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Recoil   /rikˈɔɪl/   Listen
noun
Recoil  n.  
1.
A starting or falling back; a rebound; a shrinking; as, the recoil of nature, or of the blood.
2.
The state or condition of having recoiled. "The recoil from formalism is skepticism."
3.
Specifically, the reaction or rebounding of a firearm when discharged.
Recoil dynamometer (Gunnery), an instrument for measuring the force of the recoil of a firearm.
Recoil escapement. See the Note under Escapement.


verb
Recoil  v. t.  To draw or go back. (Obs.)


Recoil  v. i.  (past & past part. recoiled; pres. part. recoiling)  
1.
To start, roll, bound, spring, or fall back; to take a reverse motion; to be driven or forced backward; to return. "Evil on itself shall back recoil." "The solemnity of her demeanor made it impossible... that we should recoil into our ordinary spirits."
2.
To draw back, as from anything repugnant, distressing, alarming, or the like; to shrink.
3.
To turn or go back; to withdraw one's self; to retire. (Obs.) "To your bowers recoil."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |




"Recoil" Quotes from Famous Books



... to get rid of Cornelius; one, Captain, that won't hurt more by the recoil than by ...
— John March, Southerner • George W. Cable
... becoming too great—there was certain to be a recoil sooner or later. The foundations of the Impeachment were shown to be too slender. There was a future ahead that must be faced, but Senators must preserve their consistency. They could not go before their pro-impeachment constituencies with a record indicating any ...
— History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, • Edumud G. Ross
... desire to see the effect of the queerly chosen place on his queerly chosen companion, he now turned to him. And as he saw the effect, every shock of the night seemed to recoil upon him. The feeling of mystery; the foreboding, despite his courage and his conviction that the boy was mad, of the imminent unknown; his recurrent and absorbing curiosity to learn the gruesome secret that he had declared; all rushed one by one ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1919 - and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various
... His otherwise fruitless visit to England left a deep impression on certain minds, learned and ignorant, and we begin for the first time to hear of examinations and prosecutions for atheism in this country. And this forms the subject of the sixth essay. The recoil that invariably takes place after any great political, social, or religious upheaval was not wanting to the Reformation in England, and in the reign of Charles I. High-Churchism, under Archbishop Laud, was thought to indicate a desire on ...
— Studies from Court and Cloister • J.M. Stone
... gun, which we carried forwards. This, Mr Shrapnel, our gunner, trained right across the slaver's bows, and at the word of command, 'Fire!' let drive with a bang that shook the steamer right down to her kelson and seemed to stop her way for the moment, sending her back, as it were, with the recoil. ...
— The Penang Pirate - and, The Lost Pinnace • John Conroy Hutcheson


More quotes...


Copyright © 2025 e-Free Translation.com