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DRAW BACK
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Use a surgical instrument to hold open (the edges of a wound or an organ)
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "draw back" is one way to...):
pull (apply force so as to cause motion towards the source of the motion)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 2
Meaning:
Pull back or move away or backward
Example:
The limo pulled away from the curb
Synonyms:
draw back; move back; pull away; pull back; recede; retire; retreat; withdraw
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "draw back" is one way to...):
go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)
Verb group:
back away; back out; crawfish; crawfish out; pull back; pull in one's horns; retreat; withdraw (make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "draw back"):
fall back (move back and away from)
retreat; retrograde (move back)
back down; back off; back up (move backwards from a certain position)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP
Context examples:
Then our promise shall be made to each other anew; for there is a terrible task before us, and once our feet are on the ploughshare we must not draw back.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Mr. Elton was speaking with animation, Harriet listening with a very pleased attention; and Emma, having sent the child on, was beginning to think how she might draw back a little more, when they both looked around, and she was obliged to join them.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Nay (seeing her draw back displeased), forgive me.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
