retrait

English

Etymology 1

From Middle French retrait. Doublet of retract, retreat, and ritratto.

Noun

retrait (plural retraits)

1. (obsolete) A picture or other visual representation.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     She is the mighty Queene of Faerie, / Whose faire retrait I in my shield do beare […]

Adjective

retrait (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Retired.

Etymology 2

Variant forms.

Noun

retrait (plural retraits)

1. Obsolete form of retreat.
   • 1658, Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus:

     Cyrus was his second Brother: who gave the occasion of that memorable work, and almost miraculous retrait of Xenophon.

Verb

retrait (third-person singular simple present retraits, present participle retraiting, simple past and past participle retraited)

1. Obsolete form of retreat.

Adjective

retrait (not comparable)

1. (heraldry, rare) Not shown in full, but cut off at point it touches the edge of the shield, an ordinary, etc, as if retreating or withdrawn into that edge, ordinary, etc. (Compare issuant, naissant.)
   • 1892, John Woodward, George Burnett, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 121:

     KETHEL in Holland uses, Azure, a pale retrait in chief (i.e., a demi-pal) soutenu by a chevron between three cauldrons or.

   • 1988, The Augustan Society Omnibus:

     The blazon : Arms : Per Saltire Gules and Or in fess two pellets pierced and in pale many plates also pierced on a chief Argent issuant as in chief seven pallets retrait two three and two Sable.

   • 2010, Elena De Laurentiis, The Lost Manuscripts from the Sistine Chapel: An Epic Journey from Rome to Toledo:

     The upper margin is bordered by a low quality frieze bearing the coat of arms of Pope Gregory XV (r. 1621-1623) : gules, three bendlets retrait per fess  […]

Anagrams

• attirer, rattier, tartier

French

Etymology

From the verb retraire, corresponding to Latin retractus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.tʁɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

retrait m (plural retraits)

1. retreat
2. withdrawal
3. (baseball) out
4. (cricket) dismissal
5. (sex) coitus interruptus

Derived terms

• en retrait
• retrait sur des prises

Further reading

• “retrait”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• attérir, atterri, attirer, retirât, terrait, titrera, traiter, traitre, traître