What does "retard" mean?
Retard: To put off; to postpone; as, to retard the attacks of old age; to retard a rupture between nations.
Additional senses
- 2.To stay back. [Obs.] Sir. T. Browne.
- 3.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.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00