Etymology: Partly < retract v.¹, and partly < post-classical Latin retractus (u -stem) action of pulling back (late 2nd or early 3rd cent. in Tertullian), retreat, refuge (14th cent.) < retract- , past participial stem of retrahere retract v.¹ + -tus , suffix forming verbal nouns. Compare Middle French, French †retraicte retraict n. Compare earlier retreat n., and also retraction n., retractation n.In quot. 1553 at sense 1 and quot. a1656 at sense 1 with reference to the Retractationes of St Augustine (see retractation n.).

Etymology: < classical Latin retract-, past participial stem of retrahere to drag or pull backwards, to drag back to one's original position, to force to turn back, to reclaim, retrieve, win back, to withdraw, to take away, to withhold, to hold back, restrain, in post-classical Latin also to delay (9th cent.) < re- re- prefix + trahere to draw (see tract n.³). Compare earlier retraction n. (see branch II. at that entry), retray v., retreat v.¹In modern use often perceived as the same word as the related verb retract v.² (see further discussion at that entry, and compare also retreat v.¹, retraction n.). N. E. D. (1908) interpreted the following passage as illustrating an otherwise unrecorded sense ‘to draw out of’, but subsequent editions of the text read extract (i.e. extract v.):1608 T. Bodley in R. Parr Life J. Usher (1686) Misc. Lett. 20 A Knowledg..which Experience might produce, if we would assay to retract it out of Nature by particular Probations.

Etymology: < Middle French, French rétracter to reconsider (an affair, event), to annul (a contract) (1370), to withdraw, unsay (a statement, opinion, etc.) (mid 16th cent.; early 14th cent. as a gloss on retractāre in uncertain sense) and its etymon classical Latin retractāre to draw back, to revoke, cancel, to detract from, to handle again, to reconsider, re-examine, to review, recollect < re- re- prefix + tractāre tract v.¹ Compare Old Occitan retractar (13th cent.), Catalan retractar (1472), Spanish retractar (early 15th cent.), Portuguese retratar (1446), Italian ritrattare (14th cent.). Compare earlier retraction n., retractation n., retreat v.¹In form retrect in older Scots with -e- in the second syllable perhaps by association with retreat v.¹ This verb can be difficult to distinguish from retract v.¹, with which it is etymologically related: the present word is ultimately < classical Latin tractāre tract v.¹, frequentative of the verb trahere to draw (see tract n.³) which lies behind retract v.¹ Although senses of retract v.¹ predominantly involve the idea of pulling back and those of retract v.² that of cancellation, the two verbs cover similar semantic ground around the concept of withdrawal, and in modern usage it is doubtful whether they are generally perceived as distinct words. Compare retreat v.¹ and retraction n. (see further discussion at that entry).