%reta%

n. Any volatile liquid used in charging illuminating gases. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. contretaille; contre (L. contra) + taille cut. See Tally. ] A counter tally; correspondence (in sound). [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

At the countretaille, in return. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. cretaceus, fr. creta chalk. See Crayon. ] 1. Having the qualities of chalk; abounding with chalk; chalky; as, cretaceous rocks and formations. See Chalk. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a chalky manner; as chalk. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a thin layer of geologic deposits, of varying thickness in different parts of the world, found between the geological strata identified as Cretaceous and the strata above, identified as Tertiary; also, the time point or period marking the boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods.
Syn. -- K/T boundary. [ PJC ]

☞According to a theory gaining acceptance (as of 1997), these deposits were formed as the debris of a large comet or meteorite impact on the earth, which threw up a large quantity of dust into the atmosphere, causing profound though temporary climatic change, and caused or hastened the extinction of numerous species, including the dinosaurs. This hypothesis was first postulated by Luis and Walter Alvarez on the basis of an excess of iridium found in the boundary layer, and was later supported by additional evidence of various types. The impact is believed to have occurred at the edge of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, forming what is termed the Chicxulub crater, which is partly under the Gulf of Mexico, is not evident from surface topography, and was detected primarily by gravity anomaly readings and subsurface geological characteristics. [ PJC ]

2. (Geol.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, the period of time following the Jurassic and preceding the Tertiary, generally given as from 144 million years b. p. to 65 million years b. p.. Also called . [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

Cretaceous acid, an old name for carbonic acid. --
Cretaceous formation (Geol.), the series of strata of various kinds, including beds of chalk, green sand, etc., formed in the Cretaceous period; -- called also the chalk formation. See the Diagram under Geology. --
Cretaceous period (Geol.), the time in the latter part of the Mesozoic age during which the Cretaceous formation was deposited, and at the end of which the dinosaurs died out. See Cretaceous. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

a. Pertaining to Crete, or Candia. -- n. A native or inhabitant of Crete or Candia. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. decretalis, fr. decretum. See Decree. ] Appertaining to a decree; containing a decree; as, a decretal epistle. Ayliffe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. decretale, neut. of L. decretalis. See Decretal, a. ] 1. (R. C. Ch.) An authoritative order or decree; especially, a letter of the pope, determining some point or question in ecclesiastical law. The decretals form the second part of the canon law. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Canon Law) The collection of ecclesiastical decrees and decisions made, by order of Gregory IX., in 1234, by St. Raymond of Pennafort. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ L. ] Matters to be excreted. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a substance applied or added to materials or objects, so as to reduce combustibility or slow the spread of fire.
PJC ]

adj. able to reduce combustibility or slow the spread of fire; -- of substances that are added to combustible materials to make them less combustible.
PJC ]

n. (Zool.) The European redstart; -- called also fireflirt. [ prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A taste beforehand; enjoyment in advance; anticipation. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To taste before full possession; to have previous enjoyment or experience of; to anticipate. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To taste before another. “Foretasted fruit.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who tastes beforehand, or before another. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., fr. Gr. "yperw`,n the palate + trhto`s perforated.] (Zool.) An order of marsipobranchs, including the Myxine or hagfish and the genus Bdellostoma. They have barbels around the mouth, one tooth on the palate, and a communication between the nasal aperture and the throat. See Hagfish. [Written also Hyperotreti.] [1913 Webster]

a. [ L. interpretabilis: cf. F. interprêtable. ] Admitting of interpretation; capable of being interpreted or explained. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. interpretamentum. ] Interpretation. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. interpretatio: cf. F. interprétation. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act of interpreting; explanation of what is obscure; translation; version; construction; as, the interpretation of a foreign language, of a dream, or of an enigma. [ 1913 Webster ]

Look how we can, or sad or merrily,
Interpretation will misquote our looks. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The sense given by an interpreter; exposition or explanation given; meaning; as, commentators give various interpretations of the same passage of Scripture. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The power or explaining. [ R. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Fine Arts) An artist's way of expressing his thought or embodying his conception of nature. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Math.) The act or process of applying general principles or formulæ to the explanation of the results obtained in special cases.

Syn. -- Explanation; solution; translation; version; sense; exposition; rendering; definition. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. interprétatif. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Designed or fitted to interpret; explanatory. “Interpretative lexicography.” Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. According to interpretation; constructive. [ 1913 Webster ]

An interpretative siding with heresies. Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. By interpretation. Ray. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being misinterpreted; liable to be misunderstood. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of interpreting erroneously; a mistaken interpretation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Eccl.) A shelf behind the altar, for display of lights, vases of flowers, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. retaille piece cut off, shred, paring, or OF. retail, from retailler. See Retail, v. ] The sale of commodities in small quantities or parcels; -- opposed to wholesale; sometimes, the sale of commodities at second hand. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Done at retail; engaged in retailing commodities; as a retail trade; a retail grocer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Retailed p. pr. & vb. n. Retailing. ] [ Cf. F. retailler to cut again; pref. re- re + tailler to cut. See Retail, n., Tailor, and cf. Detail. ] 1. To sell in small quantities, as by the single yard, pound, gallon, etc.; to sell directly to the consumer; as, to retail cloth or groceries. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To sell at second hand. [ Obs. or R. ] Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To distribute in small portions or at second hand; to tell again or to many (what has been told or done); to report; as, to retail slander. “To whom I will retail my conquest won.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

He is wit's peddler, and retails his wares
At wakes and wassails. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who retails anything; as, a retailer of merchandise; a retailer of gossip; -- used also of businesses, including large corporations; as, Sears, Roebuck is one the the country's largest retailers. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. The act of retailing. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Retained p. pr. & vb. n. Retaining. ] [ F. retainir, L. retinere; pref. re- re- + tenere to hold, keep. See Tenable, and cf. Rein of a bridle, Retention, Retinue. ] 1. To continue to hold; to keep in possession; not to lose, part with, or dismiss; to restrain from departure, escape, or the like. “Thy shape invisible retain.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Be obedient, and retain
Unalterably firm his love entire. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

An executor may retain a debt due to him from the testator. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To keep in pay; to employ by a preliminary fee paid; to hire; to engage; as, to retain a counselor. [ 1913 Webster ]

A Benedictine convent has now retained the most learned father of their order to write in its defense. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To restrain; to prevent. [ Obs. ] Sir W. Temple. [ 1913 Webster ]

Retaining wall (Arch. & Engin.), a wall built to keep any movable backing, or a bank of sand or earth, in its place; -- called also retain wall. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To keep; hold; restrain. See Keep. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To belong; to pertain. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

A somewhat languid relish, retaining to bitterness. Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To keep; to continue; to remain. [ Obs. ] Donne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being retained. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of retaining; retention. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, retains. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who is retained or kept in service; an attendant; an adherent; a hanger-on. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence, a servant, not a domestic, but occasionally attending and wearing his master's livery. Cowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Law) (a) The act of a client by which he engages a lawyer or counselor to manage his cause. (b) The act of withholding what one has in his hands by virtue of some right. (c) A fee paid to engage a lawyer or counselor to maintain a cause, or to prevent his being employed by the opposing party in the case; -- called also retaining fee. Bouvier. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The act of keeping dependents, or the state of being in dependence. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of retaining; retention. Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To take or receive again. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To take from a captor; to recapture; as, to retake a ship or prisoners. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who takes again what has been taken; a recaptor. Kent. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Retaliated p. pr. & vb. n. Retaliating. ] [ L. retaliatus, p. p. of retaliare to retaliate; pref. re- re- + a word akin to talio talion, retaliation. Cf. Talion. ] To return the like for; to repay or requite by an act of the same kind; to return evil for (evil). [ Now seldom used except in a bad sense. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

One ambassador sent word to the duke's son that his visit should be retaliated. Sir T. Herbert. [ 1913 Webster ]

It is unlucky to be obliged to retaliate the injuries of authors, whose works are so soon forgotten that we are in danger of appearing the first aggressors. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To return like for like; specifically, to return evil for evil; as, to retaliate upon an enemy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of retaliating, or of returning like for like; retribution; now, specifically, the return of evil for evil; e.g., an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. [ 1913 Webster ]

God . . . takes what is done to others as done to himself, and by promise obloges himself to full retaliation. Calamy. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Requital; reprisal; retribution; punishment. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Same as Retaliatory. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Tending to, or involving, retaliation; retaliative; as retaliatory measures. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Retardation; delay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A mentally retarded person. [ Colloq. and disparaging ] [ PJC ]

3. a person who is stupid or inept, especially in social situations. [ Colloq. and disparaging ] [ PJC ]

Retard of the tide, or
Age of the tide, the interval between the transit of the moon at which a tide originates and the appearance of the tide itself. It is found, in general, that any particular tide is not principally due to the moon's transit immediately proceeding, but to a transit which has occured some time before, and which is said to correspond to it. The retard of the tide is thus distinguished from the lunitidal interval. See under Retardation. Ham. Nav. Encyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Retarded; p. pr. & vb. n. Retarding. ] [ L. retardare, retardatum; pref. re- re- + tardare to make slow, to delay, fr. tardus slow: cf. F. retarder. See Tardy. ] 1. To keep delaying; to continue to hinder; to prevent from progress; to render more slow in progress; to impede; to hinder; as, to retard the march of an army; to retard the motion of a ship; -- opposed to accelerate. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To put off; to postpone; as, to retard the attacks of old age; to retard a rupture between nations. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To impede; hinder; obstruct; detain; delay; procrastinate; postpone; defer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To stay back. [ Obs. ] Sir. T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. retardatio: cf. F. retardation. ] 1. The act of retarding; hindrance; the act of delaying; as, the retardation of the motion of a ship; -- opposed to acceleration. [ 1913 Webster ]

The retardations of our fluent motion. De Quinsey. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which retards; an obstacle; an obstruction. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hills, sloughs, and other terrestrial retardations. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mus.) The keeping back of an approaching consonant chord by prolonging one or more tones of a previous chord into the intermediate chord which follows; -- differing from suspension by resolving upwards instead of downwards. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The extent to which anything is retarded; the amount of retarding or delay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Retardation of the tide. (a) The lunitidal interval, or the hour angle of the moon at the time of high tide any port; the interval between the transit of the moon and the time of high tide next following. (b) The age of the tide; the retard of the tide. See under Retard, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. retardatif. ] Tending, or serving, to retard. [ 1913 Webster ]