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retreat

   Also found in: Legal, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
re·treat  (r-trt)
n.
1.
a. The act or process of withdrawing, especially from something hazardous, formidable, or unpleasant.
b. The process of going backward or receding from a position or condition gained.
2. A place affording peace, quiet, privacy, or security. See Synonyms at shelter.
3.
a. A period of seclusion, retirement, or solitude.
b. A period of group withdrawal for prayer, meditation, or study: a religious retreat.
4.
a. Withdrawal of a military force from a dangerous position or from an enemy attack.
b. The signal for such withdrawal.
c. A bugle call or drumbeat signaling the lowering of the flag at sunset, as on a military base.
d. The military ceremony of lowering the flag.
v. re·treat·ed, re·treat·ing, re·treats
v.intr.
1. To fall or draw back; withdraw or retire. See Synonyms at recede1.
2. To slope backward.
v.tr. Games
To move (a chess piece) back.

[Middle English retret, from Old French retrait, retret, from past participle of retraire, retrere, to draw back, from Latin retrahere; see retract.]

re·treater n.

retreat [rɪˈtriːt]
vb (mainly intr)
1. (Military) Military to withdraw or retire in the face of or from action with an enemy, either due to defeat or in order to adopt a more favourable position
2. to retire or withdraw, as to seclusion or shelter
3. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Physiology) (of a person's features) to slope back; recede
4. (Group Games / Chess & Draughts) (tr) Chess to move (a piece) back
n
1. the act of retreating or withdrawing
2. (Military) Military
a.  a withdrawal or retirement in the face of the enemy
b.  a bugle call signifying withdrawal or retirement, esp (formerly) to within a defended fortification
3. retirement or seclusion
4. a place, such as a sanatorium or monastery, to which one may retire for refuge, quiet, etc.
5. a period of seclusion, esp for religious contemplation
6. (Medicine) an institution, esp a private one, for the care and treatment of the mentally ill, infirm, elderly, etc.
[from Old French retret, from retraire to withdraw, from Latin retrahere to pull back; see retract]

retreat


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He then went to the Beasts, but soon had to beat a retreat, or else they would have torn him to pieces.
Every advance on his part was accompanied by a corresponding retreat on her part.
THE BLACKFEET WARRIORS, when they effected their midnight retreat from their wild fastness in Pierre's Hole, fell back into the valley of the Seeds-ke-dee, or Green River where they joined the main body of their band.
 
 
 
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