retort

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /rɪˈtɔːt/, (US) IPA^(key): /rəˈtoʊrt/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(r)t

Etymology 1

From Latin retortus, from retorquere (“to be forced to twist back”).

Noun

retort (plural retorts)

1. A sharp or witty reply, or one which turns an argument against its originator; a comeback.

Translations

sharp or witty reply

• Armenian: հակաճառություն (hakačaṙutʿyun)
• Danish: replik c
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: sivallus
• French: réplique (fr) f, riposte (fr) f, repartie (fr) f
• German: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: please add this translation if you can

• Ido: repliko (io)
• Italian: replica (it)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: riposta (pl) f
• Portuguese: réplica (pt) f
• Spanish: réplica (es) f
• Swedish: please add this translation if you can

Verb

retort (third-person singular simple present retorts, present participle retorting, simple past and past participle retorted)

1. To say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation.
   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, The Ayrsham Mystery^[1]:

     “It is a pity,” he retorted with aggravating meekness, “that they do not use a little common sense. The case resembles that of Columbus'  egg, and is every bit as simple. […]”

2. To make a remark which reverses an argument upon its originator; to return, as an argument, accusation, censure, or incivility.

   to retort the charge of vanity

   • Milton

     And with retorted scorn his back he turned.

3. To bend or curve back.

   a retorted line

   • Southey

     With retorted head, pruned themselves as they floated.

4. To throw back; to reverberate; to reflect.
   • Shakespeare

     As when his virtues, shining upon others, / Heat them and they retort that heat again / To the first giver.

Translations

To say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation

• Armenian: բոցել (bocʿel)
• Finnish: sivaltaa

• Polish: ripostować

Etymology 2

From French retorte.

Retort for distillation

Noun

retort (plural retorts)

1. (chemistry) A flask with a rounded base and a long neck that is bent down and tapered, used to heat a liquid for distillation.

   • 1893, A large curved retort was boiling furiously in the bluish flame of a Bunsen burner, and the distilled drops were condensing into a two-litre measure. — Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The Naval Treaty’ (Norton 2005, p.670)

2. A container in which material is subjected to high temperatures as part of an industrial manufacturing process, especially during the smelting and forging of metal.

Translations

flask used for distillation

• Armenian: թորանոթ (tʿoranotʿ), թորաման (tʿoraman)
• Catalan: retorta f
• Czech: křivule f
• Danish: retort (da) c, destillerkolbe c
• Finnish: retortti (fi)
• French: cornue (fr)

• Ido: retorto (io)
• Polish: retorta (pl) f
• Russian: рето́рта (ru) (retórta)
• Spanish: retorta f

Verb

retort (third-person singular simple present retorts, present participle retorting, simple past and past participle retorted)

1. To heat in a retort.

Anagrams

• rotter