retracted

retracted

1. simple past and past participle of retract

retracted

1. Withdrawn back and in, as the claws of a cat.
2. (phonetics, of a sound) Pronounced further back in the vocal tract.

   Synonym: backed

   Antonyms: advanced, fronted

   • 1987, Rex Burns, Suicide Season, Viking, →ISBN, page 109:

     My guess is that he substitutes a schwa sound for the retracted r in final position.

3. (heraldry) Couped bendwise: cut off by a line diagonal to the main direction.
   • 1828, William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica: Or, Complete Dictionary of Heraldry, page 1:

     Pale, retracted, that is, shortened. It is a French term, used when pales are borne cut off, either pendent from the chief, or issuant from the base, which should be particularly noticed in the blazon.

   • 1830, Thomas Robson (engraver.), The British herald, or Cabinet of armorial bearings of the nobility & gentry of Great Britain & Ireland:

     RETRACTED, said of charges when borne one shorter than another; as, three pales or palets issuant from the chief, retracted, that is, cut off bend ways, and hanging of different lengths.

• 1897, William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: Dictionary, page 5126:

  retracted [...] 1. In her., couped by a line diagonal to their main direction : said of ordinaries or subordinaries : thus, three bars or pales are retracted when cut off bendwise or bendwise sinister.

• detracter