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retrieve

verbnouncommon in dialogue

  • //ɹɪˈtɹiːv//
  • //ɹə-//
  • //ɹi-//

To regain or get back something.

verb

  1. 1

    To regain or get back something.

    to retrieve one's character or independence; to retrieve a thrown ball

    With late repentance now they would retrieve / The bodies they forsook, and wish to live.

  2. 2

    To rescue (a creature).

  3. 3

    To salvage something

  4. 4

    To remedy or rectify something.

  5. 5

    To remember or recall something.

  6. 6

    To fetch or carry back something, especially (computing) a file or data record.

    to retrieve them from their cold, trivial conceits

  7. 7

    To fetch and bring in game.

    The cook doesn't care what's shot, only what's actually retrieved.

  8. 8

    To fetch and bring in game systematically.

    Dog breeds called 'retrievers' were selected for retrieving.

  9. 9

    To fetch or carry back systematically, notably as a game.

    Most dogs love retrieving, regardless of what object is thrown.

  10. 10

    To make a difficult but successful return of the ball.

  11. 11

    obsoleteTo remedy the evil consequence of, to repair (a loss or damage).

    Accept my sorrow, and retrieve my fall.

    There is much to be done […] and much to be retrieved.

Etymology

Recorded in Middle English c. 1410 as retreve (altered to retrive in the 16th century; modern form is from c. 1650), from Middle French retruev-, stem of Old French retrover (“to find again”, modern retrouver), itself from re- (“again”) + trover (“to find”), probably from Vulgar Latin *tropāre (“to compose”).

noun

  1. 1

    A retrieval.

    Secondly, the number of retrieves given in any one session is restricted according to the dog's level of interest. If he is not madly keen he has perhaps two or three retrieves in a session, and on some days he will have none at all.

  2. 2

    The return of a difficult ball.

  3. 3

    obsoleteA seeking again; a discovery.

  4. 4

    obsoleteThe recovery of game once sprung.

    we'll bring Wax to the retrieve

Forms

plural
retrieves
past tense
retrieved
past participle
retrieved
present participle
retrieving
third person singular
retrieves
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).