Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
RETRACT
abjure, recant, forswear, retract, resile
(verb) formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure; “He retracted his earlier statements about his religion”; “She abjured her beliefs”
retract, pull back, draw back
(verb) use a surgical instrument to hold open (the edges of a wound or an organ)
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
retract (third-person singular simple present retracts, present participle retracting, simple past and past participle retracted)
(transitive) To pull back inside.
(ambitransitive) To draw back; to draw up.
(transitive) To take back or withdraw something one has said.
To take back, as a grant or favour previously bestowed; to revoke.
Synonyms
• (to take back or withdraw something one has said): take back, withcall, withdraw; See also recant
Source: Wiktionary
Re*tract", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Retracted; p. pr. & vb. n. Retracting.] Etym: [F. rétracter, L. retractare, retractatum, to handle again, reconsider, retract, fr. retrahere, retractum, to draw back. See Retreat.]
1. To draw back; to draw up or shorten; as, the cat can retract its claws; to retract a muscle.
2. Ti withdraw; to recall; to disavow; to recant; to take back; as, to retract an accusation or an assertion. I would as freely have retracted this charge of idolatry as I ever made it. Bp. Stillingfleet.
3. To take back,, as a grant or favor previously bestowed; to revoke. [Obs.] Woodward.
Syn.
– To recal; withdraw; rescind; revoke; unsay; disavow; recant; abjure; disown.
Re*tract", v. i.
1. To draw back; to draw up; as, muscles retract after amputation.
2. To take back what has been said; to withdraw a concession or a declaration. She will, and she will not; she grants, denies, Consents, retracts, advances, and then files. Granville.
Re*tract", n. (Far.)
Definition: The pricking of a horse's foot in nailing on a shoe.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
27 November 2024
NAUSEATING
(adjective) causing or able to cause nausea; “a nauseating smell”; “nauseous offal”; “a sickening stench”
Coffee Trivia
