Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1400-1500
Language: Latin
Origin: , past participle of retrahere 'to pull back', from trahere 'to pull'

retract

 verb
     
NEW! See related topics: ANIMALSMECHANICAL
re‧tract formal
1 [transitive] if you retract something that you said or agreed, you say that you did not mean it [= withdraw]:
He confessed to the murder but later retracted his statement.
2 [intransitive and transitive]HBATEM if part of a machine or an animal's body retracts or is retracted, it moves back into the main part:
The sea otter can retract the claws on its front feet.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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