retro fract, retro fracted

[Pref. retro-, and Lat. fractus, pa.par. of frango to break.] Bot.: Bent back so as to look as if broken; as, a retro fract peduncle. 3447 II. Astron .: The act of moving backward, i . e . , from east to west. [RETROGRADE, II. 1.] "The starres themselves are thought to return more speedily in their retrogradation than in their direct course forward."- P . Holland : Pliny , bk. ii, ch. xvii. re-tro-grāde, *re-tro-grad, a . [Latin retro gradus going backward; retro grad i or =to go backward: retro backward, and gradior = to go, to move; gradus =a step.] IMG:content-0561.png:[blocks in formation] with respect to the stars."- Airy : Pop . Astronomy, p. 124. 2. Bot . ( of hairs ): Bent back or down, instead of forward or up. retrograde-development, subst. [RETROGRADE METAMORPHOSIS.] retrograde-imitation, s. Music . A peculiar kind of imitation (q. v.), so constructed that the melody may be sung backward as well as forward. The idea was probably suggested by those oracular verses of the ancients, which may be read backward or forward without injury to the words or the meter. retrograde-metamorphosis, s . 1. Botany : The return of the foliolar organs of a plant to a lower member of the series, as of a bract to a foliage leaf, a sepal to a bract or to a foliage leaf, . 2. Zool.: A term used of an animal which, as it approaches maturity, becomes le perfectly organized than would be expected from its early stages and known relationships.