| 释义 |
re·tort
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
IV. transitive verb
(-ed/-ing/-s)
1. : to treat (as oil shale) by heating in a retort
2. : autoclave
< retort canned food > |