RETORT • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Retort

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/rˈitˌɔrt/ Listen

noun

Retort n.

1.

The return of, or reply to, an argument, charge, censure, incivility, taunt, or witticism; a quick and witty or severe response. "This is called the retort courteous."

2.

(Chem. & the Arts) A vessel in which substances are subjected to distillation or decomposition by heat. It is made of different forms and materials for different uses, as a bulb of glass with a curved beak to enter a receiver for general chemical operations, or a cylinder or semicylinder of cast iron for the manufacture of gas in gas works.

Tubulated retort (Chem.), a retort having a tubulure for the introduction or removal of the substances which are to be acted upon.

Synonyms: Repartee; answer. Retort, Repartee. A retort is a short and pointed reply, turning back on an assailant the arguments, censure, or derision he had thrown out. A repartee is usually a good-natured return to some witty or sportive remark.

verb

Retort v. t. (past & past part. retorted; pres. part. retorting)

1.

To bend or curve back; as, a retorted line. "With retorted head, pruned themselves as they floated."

2.

To throw back; to reverberate; to reflect. "As when his virtues, shining upon others, Heat them and they retort that heat again To the first giver."

3.

To return, as an argument, accusation, censure, or incivility; as, to retort the charge of vanity. "And with retorted scorn his back he turned."

Retort v. i. To return an argument or a charge; to make a severe reply.

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Etymology of 'Retort'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Retort" Quotes from Famous Books

... and tossing it about in a way that shall expose its absurdity or show its value. Freedom is lost with too much responsibility and seriousness, and the truth is more likely to be struck out in a lively play of assertion and retort than when all the words and sentiments are weighed. A person very likely cannot tell what he does think till his thoughts are exposed to the air, and it is the bright fallacies and impulsive, rash ventures in conversation that are often most fruitful to talker and listeners. The talk ...

— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner

... contention in their friendly bosoms. The boastful assumptions of the tory, uttered in his excitement at beholding the imposing display of the British forces around him, were promptly met by the counter predictions of the other. Retort, recrimination, and darkly-hinted menaces followed, till jealousy and rancor seemed completely to have usurped the place of all those fraternal feelings that lately blessed their ...

— The Rangers - [Subtitle: The Tory's Daughter] • D. P. Thompson

... laughing; the retort was irresistible. He should have said: "Au monde, madame, au monde," ...

— Oscar Wilde, Volume 2 (of 2) - His Life and Confessions • Frank Harris

... Gauls did their adversaries, according to Diodorus Siculus; and as Francis I. will do later when at feud with Charles V. He was to die in an expedition undertaken out of revenge for an epigram of the king of France, and to make good his retort. ...

— A Literary History of the English People - From the Origins to the Renaissance • Jean Jules Jusserand

... parted to utter a sharp retort, but the words failed to issue. Young Mrs. Fox suddenly stooped over and peered intently at several heretofore unnoticed holes at one end of the black box. These holes, about an inch in diameter, formed a horizontal row. Much to Mr. Crow's alarm, the young lady pulled off ...

— Anderson Crow, Detective • George Barr McCutcheon

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