Search the Dictionary

To go back or return; to draw back or away; to keep aloof; to withdraw or retreat, as from observation; to go into privacy; as, to retire to his home; to retire from the world, or from notice. To Una back he cast him to retire. Spenser. The mind contracts herself, and shrinketh in, And to herself she gladly doth retire…

A place of seclusion or privacy; a place to which one withdraws or retreats; a private abode. [Archaic] This coast full of princely retirements for the sumptousness of their buildings and nobleness of the plantations. Evelyn. Caprea had been the retirement of Augustus. Addison.

Retreat. [Obs.] Bacon.

enemy has gained possession of the outer work; or to protect the defenders till they can retreat or obtain terms for a capitulation.

e to turn toward the opposite point or quarter; -- hence, of troops, to cause to turn and retreat. [Colloq.] Sir W. Scott.

fe discretion." Shak. The King of heaven hath doomed This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat. Milton.

Commanders, who, cloaking their fear under show of sage advice, counseled the general to retreat. Milton.

A sacred place; hence, a place of retreat; a room reserved for personal use; as, an editor's sanctum. Sanctum sanctorum Etym: [L.] , the Holy of Holies; the most holy place, as in the Jewish temple.

A health station or retreat; a sanatorium. "A sanitarium for troops." L. Oliphant.

An offset where a wall or bank of earth, etc., retreats, leaving a shelf or footing.

Retirement; retreat; secession. [Obs.] R. H. More.

An obscure place; a spot not exposed to light; hence, a secluded retreat. Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there Weep our sad bosoms empty. Shak.

disgraceful. His naval preparations were not more surprising than his quick and shameful retreat. Arbuthnot.

A covered place used as a retreat or shelter, as a cave or den; also, a vault or crypt. [Obs.] The shroud to which he won His fair-eyed oxen. Chapman. A vault, or shroud, as under a church. Withals.

emblematic manner, in distinction from speech; to signify. I signed to Browne to make his retreat. Sir W. Scott.

with a poor, dirty, degraded, and often vicious population; any low neighborhood or dark retreat; -- usually in the plural; as, Westminster slums are haunts for theives. Dickens.

r proclain by a sound, or sounds; to give a signal for by a certain sound; as, to sound a retreat; to sound a parley. The clock sounded the hour of noon. G. H. Lewes.

To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely. Home the swain retreats, His flock before him stepping to the fold. Thomson.

in, the suburbs of a city. "Suburban taverns." Longfellow. Suburban villas, highway-side retreats, . . . Delight the citizen. Cowper.

, as a body of troops, between hostile forces, so as to cut off means of communication or retreat; to invest, as a city.