Definition of: recoil

(ri·koil′) v.i.
1. To start back, as in fear or loathing; shrink: He recoiled at the sight.
2. To spring back, as from force of discharge or force of impact.
3. To return to the source; react: with on or upon: Crime recoils upon its perpetrator.
4. To move or draw back; retreat.
—noun (rē′koil′)
1. A backward movement or impulse, as of a gun at the moment of firing; rebound; also, a shrinking.
2. The condition existing as the result of a recoil. [<OF reculer <L re- again + culus buttocks]
—re·coil′er noun