I. rə̇ˈtȯ(ə)r]t, rēˈ-, -ȯ(ə)], usu ]d.+V\ verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Latin retortus, past participle of retorquēre to turn back, bend back, retort, from re- + torquēre to bend, twist — more at torture
transitive verb
1. : to pay, cast, or hurl back : return , repay
retort an accusation
retort a wrong
retort a censure
retort an incivility
2. : to make a like reply to : answer in kind : say in reply
will retort the question … by another question — Sir Winston Churchill
triumph on being able to retort … the comfort of having a daughter well married — Jane Austen
“it is false,” he retorted
3. : to answer or meet (as an argument) by a counter argument of a like kind
4.
a. obsolete : to throw back (as a spear) : reverberate
retort sound
: reflect
retort heat
b. : to turn, twist, or curve back
our driver's head was retorted to harangue the back seat — Christopher Morley
intransitive verb
1. obsolete : to turn or spring back : recoil
2. : to make retort : return an argument or charge
I retort upon the ethnologists — A.T.Quiller-Couch
retorted upon the teasers, without stammering — Arnold Bennett
3. : retaliate
retorted with worse revenge of his own sort — Arthur Morrison
there exists in the animals the impulse to retort upon offenders — Samuel Alexander
Synonyms: see answer
II. noun
( -s )
1. : a quick sharp witty cutting or severe reply ; especially : one that turns the first speaker's statement or argument against him or counters it
make some quick retort that silenced her tormenters — T.S.Eliot
wrote an article in the Standard (as a retort to my criticism of her) — Arnold Bennett
2. : the act or practice of making retorts
the retort courteous — Shakespeare
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle French retorte, from Medieval Latin retorta, from feminine of Latin retortus, past participle of retorquēre to bend back; from its bent shape
1. : a vessel in which substances are subjected to distillation or decomposition by heat and which may be made in various forms and of various materials for different uses: as
a. : a bulb of glass or metal with a curved or slanting beak to enter a receiver for general chemical operations
b. : a long semicylinder now usually of fireclay or silica for the manufacture of coal gas
2. : magazine 5b
[s]retort.jpg[/s]
IV. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
1. : to treat (as oil shale) by heating in a retort
2. : autoclave
retort canned food