Both Uses of
recoil
in
A Great and Terrible Beauty
- Felicity slithers off the rock and drags herself along the ground with her hands, leaning close to Ann, who recoils, her back against the cave wall.†
Chpt 13 *
- I recoil.†
Chpt 32recoil = to move backward suddenly
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