Definition of "retract"

(transitive)

1. To pull (something) back or back inside.  quotations

   Quotations

   • The collector shoes are automatically retracted when the electric handle is moved from "service off" to "lock off".

     1962 June, “The Design of the S.R. Electro-diesels”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allen Publishing, page 393

   1. (specifically, zoology) To draw (an extended body part) back into the body.

2. (rare) To avert (one's eyes or a gaze).

3. (phonetics) To pronounce (a sound, especially a vowel) farther to the back of the vocal tract.  examples

4. (obsolete) To hold back (something); to restrain.

(intransitive) To draw back; to draw up; to withdraw.  examples

An act of retracting or withdrawing (a mistake, a statement, etc.); a retraction.  quotations  examples

(military) of an army or military troops; a pull-back, a retreat; also, a signal for this to be done.  quotations

Synonym of retreat (“an act of accidentally injuring a horse's foot by incorrectly nailing it during shoeing”)  examples

(transitive)

1. To cancel or take back (something, such as an edict or a favour or grant previously bestowed); to rescind, to revoke.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Fill'd with the Satisfaction of their own diſcerning Faculties, they [natural history writers] paſs Judgment at firſt ſight; write on, and are above being ever brought to retract it.

     1729, J[ohn] Woodward, “Preface to the Whole”, in An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England; […], tome I, London: […] F[rancis] Fayram, […]; J[ohn] Senex, […]; and J. Osborn and T[homas] Longman, […], part II (A Catalogue of the English Fossils in the Collection of J. Woodward […]), page 6

2. To break or fail to keep (a promise, etc.); to renege.  examples

3. To take back or withdraw (something that has been said or written); to disavow, to repudiate.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • And yet this Pope himſelf, not many years after, retracted this Bull; […]

     1671, Edward Stillingfleet, A Discourse Concerning the Idolatry Practised in the Church of Rome, […], 2nd edition, London: […] Robert White for Henry Mortlock […], page 363

   • She will, and ſhe will not; ſhe grants, denies, / Conſents, retracts, advances, and then flies, / Approving and rejecting in a Breath, / Now proff'ring Mercy, now preſenting Death!

     1710, [George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne], “The British Enchanters; or, No Magick Like Love. A Dramatick Poem. […]”, in Poems upon Several Occasions, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], published 1712, act I, scene i, page 195

   • He has also suggested in a newspaper interview that China could be appeased if it were given partial control of Taiwan. An official in Taipei demanded that he retract his suggestion.

     2022 October 26, Cade Metz, Adam Satariano, Chang Che, “How Elon Musk Became a Geopolitical Chaos Agent”, in The New York Times‎

4. (games) Originally in chess and now in other games as well: to take back or undo (a move); specifically (card games) to take back or withdraw (a card which has been played).  examples

(intransitive)

1. To decline or fail to do something promised; to break one's word.  examples

2. Of something said or written (such as published academic work): to take back or withdraw.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • "Challenger was the man who came with some cock-and-bull story from South America." / "What story?" / "Oh, it was rank nonsense about some queer animals he had discovered. I believe he has retracted since. Anyhow, he has suppressed it all. He gave an interview to Reuter's, and there was such a howl that he saw it wouldn't do.["]

     1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘‘Try Your Luck with Professor Challenger’’”, in The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, page 23

3. (card games, archaic) To change one's mind after declaring an intention to make a certain move.