recoil
English edit
Etymology edit
From Old French reculer.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
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.
Synonyms edit
- (firearms): kick
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
pushback from a fired firearm
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Verb edit
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.
- (intransitive, now rare) To retreat before an opponent. [from 14th c.]
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- that rude rout […] forced them, how ever strong and stout / They were, as well approv'd in many a doubt, / Backe to recule […]
- (obsolete, intransitive) To retire, withdraw. [15th–18th c.]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- Ye both forwearied be: therefore a whyle / Iread you rest, and to your bowres recoyle.
- 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […], 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.
- 1838, Thomas De Quincey, The Household Wreck:
- The solemnity of her demeanor made it impossible […] that we should recoil into our ordinary spirits.
- 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
- (of a firearm) To quickly push back when fired
Translations edit
to pull back, especially in disgust, horror or astonishment
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of a firearm, to push back
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