In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
RETARD
idiot, imbecile, cretin, moron, changeling, half-wit, retard
(noun) a person of subnormal intelligence
retard
(verb) cause to move more slowly or operate at a slower rate; “This drug will retard your heart rate”
decelerate, slow, slow down, slow up, retard
(verb) lose velocity; move more slowly; “The car decelerated”
check, retard, delay
(verb) slow the growth or development of; “The brain damage will retard the child’s language development”
retard
(verb) be delayed
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
retard (plural retards)
Retardation; delay.
(music) A slowing down of the tempo; a ritardando.
(offensive, dated) A person with mental retardation.
(informal, offensive) A person or being who is extremely stupid or slow to learn.
Usage notes
Through the euphemism treadmill, the term retard (which originated as a neutral substitute for the terms that had previously designated those with disabilities, namely idiot, imbecile, and moron) has come to be considered offensive; see Wikipedia for more. In a 2003 survey by the BBC, retard was voted the most offensive word relating to disability, followed by spastic.
Synonyms
• (retardation): delay, hold-up, retardation
• (person with mental retardation): retarded, idiot, tard (offensive), imbecile (disused medical term), mental deficient (legal term), moron (disused medical term), person with learning difficulties
• (stupid person): See also fool
Verb
retard (third-person singular simple present retards, present participle retarding, simple past and past participle retarded)
(transitive) To keep delaying; to continue to hinder; to prevent from progress
Synonyms: impede, hinder, hold up
(transitive) To put off; to postpone.
(transitive, obsolete) To be slow or dilatory to perform (something).
(intransitive) To decelerate; to slow down.
(intransitive, obsolete) To stay back.
Synonyms
• (keep delaying; continue to hinder): decelerate, hinder, slow, slow down; See also hinder
• (postpone): postpone, put off; See also procrastinate
• (slow to perform): reluctant
• (decelerate): decelerate, slow, slow down, slow up
• (stay back): hang back, stay back; See also tarry
Antonyms
• (keep delaying; continue to hinder): accelerate, speed, speed up
• (postpone)
• (stay back): come forward
Anagrams
• Darter, R-rated, Trader, darter, dartre, retrad, tarred, trader
Source: Wiktionary
Re*tard", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Retarded; p. pr. & vb. n. Retarding.] Etym: [L. retardare, retardatum; pref. re- re- + tardare to make slow, to delay, fr. tardus slow: cf. F. retarder. See Tardy.]
1. To keep delaying; to continue to hinder; to prevent from progress; to render more slow in progress; to impede; to hinder; as, to retard the march of an army; to retard the motion of a ship; -- opposed to Ant: accelerate.
2. To put off; to postpone; as, to retard the attacks of old age; to retard a rupture between nations.
Syn.
– To impede; hinder; obstruct; detain; delay; procrastinate; postpone; defer.
Re*tard", v. i.
Definition: To stay back. [Obs.] Sir. T. Browne.
Re*tard", n.
Definition: Retardation; delay. Retard, or Age, of the tide, the interval between the transit of the moon at which a tide originates and the appearance of the tide itself. It is found, in general, that any particular tide is not principally due to the moon's transit immediatelly proceeding, but to a transit which has occured some time before, and which is said to correspond to it. The retard of the tide is thus distinguished from the lunitidal interval. See under Retardation. rHam. Nav. Encyc.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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