Word Direct Answers

What does "recoil" mean?

Recoil: To draw back, as from anything repugnant, distressing, alarming, or the like; to shrink. Shak.

Additional senses

  1. 2.To turn or go back; to withdraw one's self; to retire. [Obs.] "To your bowers recoil." Spenser.
  2. 3.To draw or go back. [Obs.] Spenser.
  3. 4.A starting or falling back; a rebound; a shrinking; as, the recoil of nature, or of the blood.
  4. 5.The state or condition of having recoiled. The recoil from formalism is skepticism. F. W. Robertson.
  5. 6.Specifically, the reaction or rebounding of a firearm when discharged. Recoil dynamometer (Gunnery), an instrument for measuring the force of the recoil of a firearm. -- Recoil escapement See the Note under Escapement.

Sources