retort

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English

Pronunciation

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  • Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t
  • Hyphenation: re‧tort
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Etymology 1

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(deprecated template usage) Borrowed from Latin retortus, from retorquēre (“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

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, in 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
    • (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      And with retorted scorn his back he turned.
  3. To bend or curve back.
    a retorted line
    • (Can we date this quote by Southey and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      With retorted head, pruned themselves as they floated.
  4. To throw back; to reverberate; to reflect.
    • (Can we date this quote by William Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      As when his virtues, shining upon others, / Heat them and they retort that heat again / To the first giver.
Synonyms
Translations
to retort; to throw back — see return

Etymology 2

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Naval Treaty, Norton, page 670:
      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.
  2. A airtight vessel in which material is subjected to high temperatures in the chemical industry or as part of an industrial manufacturing process, especially during the smelting and forging of metal.
  3. A pressure cooker
    • March 1920, Alice Ballantine Kirjassoff, “FORMOSA THE BEAUTIFUL”, in National Geographic Magazine‎[2], page 268:
      The retort is above boiling water. Beneath is a furnace. To the right a man is removing the chips from which the camphor has been extracted.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To heat in a retort.

Anagrams

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French retorte, from Latin retorta.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /rəˈtɔrt/
  • Hyphenation: re‧tort
  • Rhymes: -ɔrt

Noun

retort f or n (plural retorten)

  1. (chemistry) retort (flask used for distillation)
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