RETAIN • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Retain

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/rɪtˈeɪn/ /ritˈeɪn/ Listen

verb

Retain v. t. (past & past part. retained; pres. part. retaining)

To continue to hold; to keep in possession; not to lose, part with, or dismiss; to restrain from departure, escape, or the like. "Thy shape invisible retain." "Be obedient, and retain Unalterably firm his love entire." "An executor may retain a debt due to him from the testator."

To keep in pay; to employ by a preliminary fee paid; to hire; to engage; as, to retain a counselor. "A Benedictine convent has now retained the most learned father of their order to write in its defense."

To restrain; to prevent. (Obs.)

Retaining wall (Arch. & Engin.), a wall built to keep any movable backing, or a bank of sand or earth, in its place; called also retain wall.

Synonyms: To keep; hold; restrain. See Keep.

Retain v. i.

To belong; to pertain. (Obs.) "A somewhat languid relish, retaining to bitterness."

To keep; to continue; to remain. (Obs.)

See images of 'Retain'

Etymology of 'Retain'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Retain" Quotes from Famous Books

... works will exist: one in the possession of King George the Nineteenth, one in the Duke of Carrington's collection, and one in the library of the British Museum. Finally, should any good people be concerned to hear that Pagan fictions will so long retain their influence over literature, let them reflect that, as the Bishop of St David's says, in his "Proofs of the Inspiration of the Sibylline Verses," read at the last meeting of the Royal Society of Literature, "at all events, a ...

— The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 1 (of 4) - Contibutions to Knight's Quarterly Magazine] • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... that is in good hands; that you may retain." I looked on him with staring and inquiring eyes. He spoke: "May I ask for a trifling memento? Be so good as to sign this note." The following words were on the ...

— Peter Schlemihl • Adelbert von Chamisso

... difficult to retain one's individuality, let alone one's impressions. Moreover some little time had elapsed before he really saw his companions. Not that he was long actually blind,—that is the prerogative of the carnivora, but his career commenced some feet below the surface of ...

— "Wee Tim'rous Beasties" - Studies of Animal life and Character • Douglas English

... salvation depended upon quickly reaching it. Her left hand rested lightly within Knight's arm, half withdrawn, from a sense of shame at claiming him before her old lover, yet unwilling to renounce him; so that her glove merely touched his sleeve. '"Can one be pardoned, and retain the offence?"' ...

— A Pair of Blue Eyes • Thomas Hardy

... great stature in this country. One of the largest men I have ever seen appears daily in the garden of the Tuileries, and I am told he is a Frenchman of one of the north-eastern provinces. That part of the kingdom is German rather than French, however, and the population still retain most of the ...

— Recollections of Europe • J. Fenimore Cooper

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