Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. That can be drawn back or in: the retractile claws of a cat.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Retractable; capable of being retracted, drawn back, or drawn in after protraction or protrusion: correlated with protractile or protrusile, of which it is the opposite: as, the retractile claws of felines: the retractile head of a tortoise; the retractile horns or feelers of a snail: especially applied in entomology to parts, as legs or antennæ, which fold down or back into other parts which are hollowed to receive them.
- Retractive.
- Synonyms Retracted, Retractile. A retracted part is permanently drawn in or back, and fixed in such position that it cannot be protracted or protrnded. A retractile part is also protractile or protrusile, and capable of retraction when it has been protracted.
Wiktionary
- adj. That can be retracted (as a cat's claws)
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. (Physiol.) Capable of retraction; capable of being drawn back or up.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. capable of retraction; capable of being drawn back
Examples
“That's just called a retractile testicle, and it's not a dangerous thing," says Dr. Dana A. Ohl, urologist.”
“Claw marks are present, but he thinks they appear retractile.”
“I understand that heading westerly you're breaking its one-way "rule" -- but, it's rarely traveled and such violations are overlooked by the kindly dwarf that mans its antique retractile mechanisms.”
“The wives felt that if the foreskin were retractile that they the men would have a better sexual experience.”
““Phimosis” is not a “stuck foreskin” it is a foreskin that is non-retractile because the foreskin opening or sphincter is not elastic.”
“Things that were terrible enough at the time appear to us now as they recede into the past through a thickening, highly retractile veil of grotesqueness and picturesque absurdity.”
“In the open again, and when I hesitate if it be clover, a touch on the leaves, and its fine sense and retractile action betrays its identity at once.”
“The powerful retractile talons of the falcon — and the cat-tribes have not been produced or increased by the volition of those animals; but among the different varieties which occurred in the earlier and less highly organized forms of these groups, those always survived longest which had the greatest facilities for seizing their prey.”
On the tendency of varieties to depart indefinitely from the original type
“One of its forelimbs came through the thick cloak of fur, four-fingered paw raised, slashing retractile claws extended, reaching out almost playfully.”
“Round, horny knobs at the ends of its long toes protected retractile claws as it bounded back and forth between the bow and the man, giving a quick flutter of its wings on each bound.”
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Adjectival Arcana
A roster of adjectives that infrequently surface in typical conversation and writing. Many are dredged from scientific or other technical jargon or sieved from examples of disused archaic forms.
unitegmic, acaulescent, reticuloendothelial, ingressive, uniate, acanthopterygian, ossific, epiphysial, perivisceral, acœlomatous, cestoid, acælomate and 7756 more...
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