retort1 (retort)

[ It would be tried, how.. the voice will be carried in an horn, which is a line arched; or in a trumpet, which is a line retorted ; or in some pipe that were sinuous. Bacon , Nat. Hist., § 132. 2t. To throw back; specifically, to reflect. As when his virtues, shining upon others, Heat them, and they retort that heat again To the first giver. Shak., T. and C., iii. 3. 101. Dear sir, retort me naked to the world Rather then lay those burdens on me, which Will stifle me. Brome , Jovial Crew, i. He pa 'd Long way through hostile scorn, And, with retorted scorn, his back he turn'd. Milton , P. L., v. 906. 3t. To cast back; reject; refuse to accept or grant. The duke's unjust Thus to retort your manifest appeal. Shak., M. for M., v. 1. 303. 4. To return; turn back or repel, as an argument, accusation, manner of treatment, etc., upon the originator; retaliate: rarely applied to the return of kindne or civility. We shall retort these kind favours with all alacrity of spirit. B. Jonson, Case is Altered, i. 2. He... discovered the errors of the Roman church, retorted the arguments, stated the questions. Jer . Taylor , Works (ed. 1835), IL. 76. He was eminently calculated to exercise that moral pride which enables a poet to defy contemporary criticism, to retort contemporary scorn. Whipple , E . and Rev., L. 234. 5. To reply resentfully. What if thy son Prove disobedient, and, reproved, retort Wherefore didst thou beget me? I sought it not. Milton , P. L., x. 761. II. in trans . 1†. To curve, twist, or coil back. Her hairs as Gorgon's foul retorting snakes. Greene, Ditty. This line, thus curve and thus orbicular, Render direct and perpendicular; But so direct, that in no sort It ever may in Rings retort . Congreve, An Impo ible Thing. 2. To retaliate; turn back an argument, accusation, or manner of treatment upon the originator; especially, to make a resentful reply; respond in a spirit of retaliation. He took a joke without retorting by an impertinence. O. W. Holmes, Old Vol. of Life, p. 43. Charles, who could not di emble his indignation during this discourse, retorted with great acrimony when it was concluded. Pre scott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 1. 31. To return. zif they retourte azen by Jerusalem. Lydgate , MS. Soc. Antiq. 134, f. 24. ( Hall i well .)