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The act of retaining; retention.

The act of retaining; retention. Dr. H. More.

Gushing forth; full to overflowing; effusive. [R.] A pen so scaturient and unretentive. Sir W. Scott.

Retention within one's grasp or power; hold; possession; ownership. Make o'er thy honor by a deed of trust, And give me seizure of the mighty wealth. Dryden.

ining shoddy; as, shoddy cloth; shoddy blankets; hence, colloquially, not genuine; sham; pretentious; as, shoddy aristocracy. Shoddy inventions designed to bolster up a factitious pride. Compton Reade.

Freedom from artificial ornament, pretentious style, or luxury; plainness; as, simplicity of dress, of style, or of language; simplicity of diet; simplicity of life.

Pretentious; showy; spruce; as, a smart gown.

Of or pertaining to a snob; characteristic of, or befitting, a snob; vulgarly pretentious. -- Snob"bish*ly, adv.

To treat with contempt or neglect, as a forward or pretentious person; to slight designedly. To snub a cable or rope (Naut.), to check it suddenly in running out. Totten.

Of or pertaining to a sophomore; resembling a sophomore; hence, pretentious; inflated in style or manner; as, sophomoric affectation. [U. S.]

Characterized by a pretentious, boastful, exaggerated style; defiantly or extravagantly bombastic; as, a spread-eagle orator; a spread-eagle speech. [Colloq.& Humorous]

f a natural secretion or excretion; as, suppression of urine; -- used in contradiction to retention, which signifies that the secretion or excretion is retained without expulsion. Quain.

Apt to retain; retentive; as, a tenacious memory.

The quality or state of being tenacious; as, tenacity, or retentiveness, of memory; tenacity, or persistency, of purpose.

The retention of the afterbirth in cows. Gardner.