1597 T. Morley Plaine & Easie Introd. Musicke i. 54 Because I made it to expresse sextupla, I haue set it downe in semibriefes, allowing sixe for a stroke, and taking awaie the retortiue mood.

1676 T. Mace Musick's Monument ii. 130 If you find It Vniform, and Retortive, either in Its Barrs, or Strains,..Then you will find it very Easie, to Humour a Lesson, by Playing some Sentences Loud, and others again Soft.

1754 Muses Delight 11 The third [mark] denotes a brisk Movement, and contains but one Minim, or two Crotchets, &c. in a Bar.—This is called Retortive Time.

1778 G. Bernard tr. A. Bemetzrieder Music made Easy i. iii. 36 There is a third sort of time..which is called Retortive Time.

1632 ‘T. T.’ Whetstone of Reproofe (title page) A compendious retortiue discussion of the misapplyed by-way.

1772 Lady's Mag. Dec. 573/1 Neither retortive language will forbear, Nor ev'n the most severe invectives spare.

1781 J. Rutherford in tr. Cicero Principal Orations Argt. 219 Recrimination, and retortive abuse, are..the governing principles of the speech.

1830 G. S. Faber Diffic. Romanism (ed. 2) ii. iv. 318 The apt answer of Blandina, though thrown into the form of a retortive question, is implicatively a palpable denial.

1865 J. Rush Brief Outl. Anal. Human Intellect I. vi. 271 Sharp and ready wits, pouncing and clutching moneymakers, retortive and dodging wranglers, sleek-worded knaves.

1949 G. B. Shaw in Strand Mag. July 20/2 A trumpery farce may win an uproarious success by its retortive back~chat.

1989 M. Spevack in J. E. Peters & T. M. Stein Scholastic Midwifery 6 Among other patterns are word-plays of a mocking or retortive nature.

1787 J. Barlow Vision of Columbus v. 165 From all his guileful plots the veil they drew, With eye retortive look'd creation thro'.

1822 A. S. Grenville Orig. Poet. Effusions 37 With retortive mind, we dwelt on days Long past.

1855 Arm Chair (ed. 4) 20 As gently passed the fleeting breath away, Retortive memory brought her youthful day, And one fond look back on the past she flung.

1836 Virginia Free Press 14 Jan. Retortive measures cannot therefore be sanctioned.

1872 Appletons' Jrnl. 12 Oct. 409/3 The hawk..is a more dangerous adversary, being retortive as well as resentful.

1912 Trans. Royal Hist. Soc. 3rd Ser. 6 170 It was urged by Lisemann that the Rhine trade..be closed to the English, and that retortive tolls be levied on English merchandise.

1990 I. G. Caytas & J. I. Mahari in D. E. Fair & C. de Boissieu Financial Inst. Eur. under New Competitive Conditions xvi. 230 No universal retortive action looms for antagonizing one or the other Fortune 500 firm.

1651 D. Border Πολυϕαρμακος και Χυμιστης cxxv. 81 Distill them in a glasse retortive in sand.

1660 J. Harding tr. Paracelsus Archidoxis i. 55 Separate this (by a Retortive process or pressing) from the feces.