retire
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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to withdraw from one's career, occupation, or office, usually because of age.
to retire at the age of sixty.
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to withdraw, or go away or apart, to a place of privacy, shelter, or seclusion.
He retired to his study.
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to go to bed.
He retired at midnight.
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to fall back or retreat in an orderly fashion and according to plan, as from battle, an untenable position, danger, etc.
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to withdraw or remove oneself.
After announcing the guests, the butler retired.
verb (used with object)
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to withdraw from circulation by taking up and paying, as bonds, bills, etc.; redeem.
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to withdraw or lead back (troops, ships, etc.), as from battle or danger; retreat.
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to remove from active service or the usual field of activity, as an army officer or business executive.
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to withdraw (a machine, ship, etc.) permanently from its normal service, usually for scrapping; take out of use.
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Baseball, Cricket. to put out or end the offensive play of (a batter, runner, side, etc.).
The pitcher’s on fire, retiring the last five hitters with strikeouts.
With two runners stranded on base, the side is retired.
noun
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a place of withdrawal; retreat.
a cool retire from summer's heat.
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retirement or withdrawal, as from worldly matters or the company of others.
noun
plural
retirésverb
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(also tr) to give up or to cause (a person) to give up his work, a post, etc, esp on reaching pensionable age (in Britain and Australia usually 65 for men, 60 for women)
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to go away, as into seclusion, for recuperation, etc
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to go to bed
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to recede or disappear
the sun retired behind the clouds
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to withdraw from a sporting contest, esp because of injury
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(also tr) to pull back (troops, etc) from battle or an exposed position or (of troops, etc) to fall back
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(tr)
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to remove (bills, bonds, shares, etc) from circulation by taking them up and paying for them
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to remove (money) from circulation
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Related Words
See depart.
Other Word Forms
- retirer noun
Etymology
Origin of retire1
First recorded in 1525–35; from Middle French retirer “to withdraw, pull back,” equivalent to re- re- + tirer “to draw”
Origin of retiré2
< French, past participle of retirer to retire
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Iran has crossed a line,” said retired British Air Marshal Martin Sampson, executive director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies—Middle East in Bahrain.
“People are really scared,” said a retired oil executive who packed his bags and fled for his villa on the Caspian Sea after watching missiles flying over Tehran.
A retired friend told me that she and her husband don’t have dental insurance because it costs too much and covers too little, and it turns out they’re not alone.
From Los Angeles Times
However, an award-winning Ayrshire butcher's shop is now ready for the final cut, after its current owner decided to retire.
From BBC
“Suddenly everyone took action and many coal plants were on the chopping block or getting retired,” McMahon said.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
