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The place to which anyone retires; a place or privacy or safety; a refuge; an asylum. He built his son a house of pleasure, and spared no cost to make a delicious retreat. L'Estrange. That pleasing shade they sought, a soft retreat From sudden April showers, a shelter from the heat. Dryden.

To retire; to give up a siege. He, rising with small honor from Gunza, . . . was gone. Knolles.

A collection of fowls roosting together. At roost, on a perch or roost; hence, retired to rest.

tic doctrine of election of the principal officers of the state by ballot, and the annual retirement of a portion of Parliament.

eat inconveniences by blabbing out his own or other's secrets. Ray. Others, accustomed to retired speculations, run natural philosophy into metaphysical notions. Locke.

besiegers; to make a sally. They break the truce, and sally out by night. Dryden. The foe retires, -- she heads the sallying host. Byron.

The most retired part of the temple at Jerusalem, called the Holy of Holies, in which was kept the ark of the covenant, and into which no person was permitted to enter except the high priest, and he only once a year, to intercede for the people; also, the most sacred part of the tabernacle; also, the temple at Jerusale…

ege is looked on with horror; but when they have made the breach, their scrupulosity soon retires. Dr. H. More. Careful, even to scrupulosity, . . . to keep their Sabbath. South.

wship, communion, or association; to separate one's self by a solemn act; to draw off; to retire; especially, to withdraw from a political or religious body.

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

Seclusion; privacy; retirement. "The pensive secrecy of desert cell." Milton.

Withdraw from general intercourse or notice; in retirement or secrecy; secluded. There, secret in her sapphire cell, He with the Naïs wont to dwell. Fenton.

To cause to retire or withdraw into obscurity; to seclude; to withdraw; -- often used reflexively. When men most sequester themselves from action. Hooker. A love and desire to sequester a man's self for a higher conversation. Bacon.

Retired; secluded. "Sequestered scenes." Cowper. Along the cool, sequestered vale of life. Gray.

The state of being separated or set aside; separation; retirement; seclusion from society. Since Henry Monmouth first began to reign, . . . This loathsome sequestration have I had. Shak.

A hut or small cottage in an expessed or a retired place (as on a mountain or at the seaside) such as is used by shepherds, fishermen, sportsmen, etc.; a summer cottage; also, a shed. [Written also sheel, shealing, sheiling, etc.] [Scot.]

To withdraw or retire, as from danger; to decline action from fear; to recoil, as in fear, horror, or distress. What happier natures shrink at with affright, The hard inhabitant contends is right. Pope. They assisted us against the Thebans when you shrank from the task. Jowett (Thucyd.)

To sequester; to withdraw; to retire. [Obs.] An agent singling itself from consorts. Hooker.

To enter deeply; to fall or retire beneath or below the surface; to penetrate. The stone sunk into his forehead. 1 San. xvii. 49.

Hence, anything by which one is entangled and brought into trouble. If thou retire, the Dauphin, well appointed, Stands with the snares of war to tangle thee. Shak.