Both Uses of
recoil
in
Burned by Ellen Hopkins
- I figured I could deal with a bit of a recoil.†
*
- My arm ached from the rifle's recoil, my ears rang from the echoed report, and my heart pounded in my brain.†
Definition:
-
(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