recoil - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Old French reculer. Further from Latin re- + cūlus.

recoil (countable and uncountable, plural recoils)

Recoil (sense 3) causes this pistol to deflect upwards.

  1. A starting or falling back; a rebound; a shrinking.
    the recoil of nature, or of the blood
  2. The state or condition of having recoiled.
    • 1850, Frederick William Robertson, second address delivered to the members of the Working Men's Institute, Brighton:
      The recoil from formalism is skepticism.
  3. (firearms) The energy transmitted back to the shooter from a firearm which has fired. Recoil is a function of the weight of the weapon, the weight of the projectile, and the speed at which it leaves the muzzle.
  4. An escapement in which, after each beat, the scape-wheel recoils slightly.

pushback from a fired firearm

recoil (third-person singular simple present recoils, present participle recoiling, simple past and past participle recoiled) (intransitive)

  1. To pull back, especially in disgust, horror or astonishment. [from 16th c.]
    He recoiled in disgust when he saw the mess.
    • 2025 December 11, Charlie Campbell, Andrew R. Chow and Billy Perrigo, “The Architects of AI Are TIME’s 2025 Person of the Year”, in Time‎[1]:
      For decades, humankind steeled itself for the rise of thinking machines. As we marveled at their ability to beat chess champions and predict protein structures, we also recoiled from their inherent uncanniness, not to mention the threats to our sense of humanity.
  2. (archaic) To recoil before an opponent. [from 14th c.]
  3. (weaponry) Of a firearm: to quickly push back when fired.
  4. (obsolete) To retire, withdraw. [15th–18th c.]

to pull back, especially in disgust, horror or astonishment

of a firearm, to push back