Adjacent Words

Retrieve definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

RETRIE'VE, v.t.
1. To recover; to restore from loss or injury to a former good state; as to retrieve the credit of a nation; to retrieve one's character; to retrieve a decayed fortune.
2. To repair.
Accept my sorrow, and retrieve my fall.
3. To regain.
With late repentance now they would retrieve the bodies they forsook, and wish to live.
4. To recall; to bring back; as, to retrieve men from their cold trivial conceits.
RETRIE'VE, n. A seeking again; a discovery. [Not in use.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: get or find back; recover the use of; "She regained control of herself"; "She found her voice and replied quickly" [syn: recover, retrieve, find, regain]
2: go for and bring back; "retrieve the car from the parking garage"
3: run after, pick up, and bring to the master; "train the dog to retrieve"
4: recall knowledge from memory; have a recollection; "I can't remember saying any such thing"; "I can't think what her last name was"; "can you remember her phone number?"; "Do you remember that he once loved you?"; "call up memories" [syn: remember, retrieve, recall, call back, call up, recollect, think] [ant: blank out, block, draw a blank, forget]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (retrieved; retrieving) Etymology: Middle English retreven, from Anglo-French retrueve-, present stem of retrover to find again, from re- + trover to compose, invent, find, from Vulgar Latin *tropare — more at troubadour Date: 15th century transitive verb 1. to locate and bring in (killed or wounded game) 2. to call to mind again 3. to get back again ; regain 4. a. rescue, salvage b. to return (as a ball or shuttlecock that is difficult to reach) successfully 5. restore, revive <his writing retrieves the past> 6. to remedy the evil consequences of ; correct 7. to get and bring back; especially to recover (as information) from storage intransitive verb to bring in game <a dog that retrieves well>; also to bring back an object thrown by a person • retrievability noun • retrievable adjective II. noun Date: 1697 1. retrieval 2. the successful return of a ball that is difficult to reach or control (as in tennis)

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.tr. 1 a regain possession of. b recover by investigation or effort of memory. 2 a restore to knowledge or recall to mind. b obtain (information stored in a computer etc.). 3 (of a dog) find and bring in (killed or wounded game etc.). 4 (foll. by from) recover or rescue (esp. from a bad state). 5 restore to a flourishing state; revive. 6 repair or set right (a loss or error etc.) (managed to retrieve the situation). --n. the possibility of recovery (beyond retrieve). Derivatives: retrievable adj. retrieval n. Etymology: ME f. OF retroeve- stressed stem of retrover (as RE-, trover find)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Retrieve Re*trieve", v. i. (Sport.) To discover and bring in game that has been killed or wounded; as, a dog naturally inclined to retrieve. --Walsh.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Retrieve Re*trieve", n. 1. A seeking again; a discovery. [Obs.] --B. Jonson. 2. The recovery of game once sprung; -- an old sporting term. [Obs.] --Nares.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Retrieve Re*trieve", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Retrieved; p. pr. & vb. n. Retrieving.] [OE. retreven, OF. retrover to find again, recover (il retroevee finds again), F. retrouver; pref. re- re- + OF. trover to find, F. trouver. See Trover.] 1. To find again; to recover; to regain; to restore from loss or injury; as, to retrieve one's character; to retrieve independence. With late repentance now they would retrieve The bodies they forsook, and wish to live. --Dryden 2. To recall; to bring back. To retrieve them from their cold, trivial conceits. --Berkeley.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(retrieves, retrieving, retrieved) 1. If you retrieve something, you get it back from the place where you left it. The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island. = recover VERB: V n 2. If you manage to retrieve a situation, you succeed in bringing it back into a more acceptable state. He is the one man who could retrieve that situation. VERB: V n 3. To retrieve information from a computer or from your memory means to get it back. Computers can instantly retrieve millions of information bits... VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Regain, recover, restore, recruit, repair, re-establish, get again. 2. Repair, make amends for. 3. Recall, bring back.

Moby Thesaurus

bring, bring back, call for, chase after, cover, deliver, extract, extricate, fetch, fetch and carry, free, get, get back, go after, go and get, go fetch, go for, go get, go to get, liberate, make up, obtain, pay for, pick up, procure, ransom, reactivate, recapture, reclaim, recoup, recover, recruit, recuperate, recycle, redeem, regain, rekindle, release, renew, renovate, reoccupy, repay, replevin, replevy, repossess, rescue, restore, resume, resurrect, resuscitate, retake, return, revindicate, revitalize, revive, revivify, run after, salvage, save, secure, set free, shag, take back, win back