All 3 Uses of
recoil
in
Moby Dick
- And if the idea of peril so much enhances the popular conceit of the soldier's profession; let me assure ye that many a veteran who has freely marched up to a battery, would quickly recoil at the apparition of the sperm whale's vast tail, fanning into eddies the air over his head.†
Chpt 22-24 *recoil = to move backward suddenly
- In striking at a boat, he swiftly curves away his flukes from it, and the blow is only inflicted by the recoil.†
Chpt 85-87
- * So, in a gale, the but half baffled Channel billows only recoil from the base of the Eddystone, triumphantly to overleap its summit with their scud.†
Chpt 133-135
Definition:
to move backward suddenly (sometimes figuratively)
especially:
- the backward jerk of a gun or cannon when it is fired
- when a person flinches (suddenly draws back) from someone or something, as with fear, disgust, or pain
- when a person is emotionally repulsed, as by disgust
- when something intended to go in one direction figuratively falls back in the opposite direction; for example, a story told to hurt someone that comes back to hurt the teller