Both Uses
recoil
in
Flags of Our Fathers
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- His comrades-in-arms seemed to recoil from the slight, callow nineteen-year-old almost by reflex.†
Chpt 5. *recoil = to move backward suddenly
- Americans recoiled.†
Chpt 12.recoiled = moved back suddenly
Definitions:
-
(1)
(recoil) 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
- (2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)