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The backward jerk of a gun when it is fired
Answer for the clue "The backward jerk of a gun when it is fired ", 6 letters:
recoil
Alternative clues for the word recoil
Word definitions for recoil in dictionaries
Wikipedia
Word definitions in Wikipedia
Recoil is a rheological phenomenon observed only in non-Newtonian fluids that is characterized by a moving fluid’s ability to snap back to a previous position when external forces are removed. Recoil is an observable result of a fluid’s elasticity and memory ...
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Recoil \Re*coil"\, n. A starting or falling back; a rebound; a shrinking; as, the recoil of nature, or of the blood. The state or condition of having recoiled. The recoil from formalism is skepticism. --F. W. Robertson. Specifically, the reaction or rebounding ...
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. 1 A starting or falling back; a rebound; a shrinking. 2 The state or condition of having recoiled. 3 (context firearms English) The amount of energy transmitted back to the shooter from a firearm which has fired. Recoil is a function of the weight of ...
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
c.1300, "retreat," from Old French recul "recoil, backward movement, retreat," from reculer (see recoil (v.)). Meaning "back-kick of a firearm" is from 1570s.
Usage examples of recoil.
When the berserker launch vehicle came shooting up out of that peculiar background, it flew past his scoutship before either he or his autopilot could react effectively, coming so close, within a few kilometers, that Pike instinctively recoiled, as from an imminent collision.
But as the bridleless starhorse wheeled, climbing the air, his rider suddenly recoiled.
Nor did the child recoil any longer from the ugly task which milor, with suave speech and tender voice, was so ardently seeking to impose on her.
The squat, misformed giant of a man seemed almost to recoil as if struck, and to tremble.
He seemed to recoil at my words, and began pacing up and down the study before breaking into a great storm of doubting and misliking of the spirits.
I could recoil from its touch, nudged my forehead with a blind, mouthless snout.
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.
Thorin recoiled a step and in a lightning reflex movement, drew his pistolet from its holster.
Between the clavicles another pulsatile swelling was easily felt but hardly seen, which was doubtless the arch of the aorta, as by putting the fingers on it one could feel a double shock, synchronous with distention and recoil of a vessel or opening and closing of the semilunar valves.
The horses recoiled and the English men-at-arms advanced to hack at the horsemen who were relin- quishing lances to draw their swords.
The Rattler moved with a coiling and recoiling motion, treads grinding beneath.
Her gaze flickered to the silent trees, her spirit recoiling from the malevolence of the forest.
To clear out the quartz would disrupt patterned energies, with the recoiling effects of unsanctioned release rewritten in her hapless flesh.
Yet their depths reflected a wound so deep, thought could scarcely encompass the recoiling agony.
As though the spells carved through each nerve and bone of him, the spellbinder sensed the recoiling, flash bum of heat.