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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


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"Recoil" Quotes from Famous Books



... and really at a great deal of peril, considering his situation, put his rough, grimed hand into Fred's—a dishonest hand it was, and that more than the other thing made Fred recoil a little as he touched it; but that clasp sealed the compact between these two boys. It began ...
— The Errand Boy • Horatio Alger
... burst of machine-gun fire, from the upper starboard gallery, crashed out into the sultry, quivering air. The kick and recoil of the powerful Lewis sent a fine, swift shudder through the fabric of the ...
— The Flying Legion • George Allan England
... blindfold a mother? For a moment I saw her recoil—then turn to her husband with a dumb, piteous, desperate look, as though to say, "Help me—my sorrow is more ...
— John Halifax, Gentleman • Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
... reputation, he did little more to advance the working interests of his college during these five-and-twenty years than if he had been one of the venerable academic abuses of the worst days before reform. But his temperament, his reading, his recoil from Catholicism, combined with the strong reflective powers bestowed upon him by nature, to produce a personality that was unlike other people, and infinitely more curious and salient than many who had a firmer grasp of the art of right living. In an age of effusion ...
— Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 3 of 3) - Essay 5: On Pattison's Memoirs • John Morley
... cheapness, I do not hesitate to place it first. Like the potato, however, its very simplicity lays it open to careless treatment, and many who would be the first to appreciate its good qualities if it were placed before them well cooked and served, now recoil from the idea of habitually feeding off what they know only under the guise of a stodgy, insipid, or watery mass. A few hints, therefore, respecting the best manner of preparing this ...
— New Vegetarian Dishes • Mrs. Bowdich


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