▪ I. † reˈcede, n. Obs.—1
[f. next.]
Withdrawal.
| 1658 Sir H. Slingsby Diary (1836) 202, I shall now take occasion to make my recede from the world. |
▪ II. recede, v.1
(rɪˈsiːd)
Also 5 reysede, 6 recead, 7 receed.
[ad. L. recēdĕre, f. re- re- 2 a + cēdere to go, cede. Cf. obs. F. recéder (Godef.).]
1. intr. To go back or further off; to remove to or towards a more distant position. a. of persons. Usually = to retreat, retire.
| 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 93 You must recede and keep at distance, when you meet women. 1725 Pope Odyss. vi. 263 But, nymphs, recede! sage chastity denies To raise the blush. 1799–1805 S. Turner Anglo-Sax. (1836) I. iii. iii. 168 Of the events of the battle, he only says, that Arthur did not recede. 1822 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Dream Children, While I stood gazing, both the children gradually grew fainter to my view, receding, and still receding. 1848 Lytton Harold iii. iii, The Earl ceased and receded behind his children. |
b. of things. (Said also of things from which one is moving away.)
| 1662 Glanvill Lux Orient. xiii. 140 As the sun recedes, the moon and stars discouer themselues. a 1763 Shenstone Elegies vii. 73 When proud Fortune's ebbing tide recedes. c 1790 J. Imison Sch. Arts I. 66 If it be charged positively..the balls will recede still further asunder. 1818 Shelley Eugan. Hills 21 The dim low line..Of a dark and a distant shore Still recedes. 1860 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea (Low) i. §13 When the two [waves] receded, there was not a house..left standing in the village. |
c. Const. from. Also in fig. context.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xxv. §12 It is plain that the more you recede from your grounds, the weaker do you conclude. 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. ii. ii. 44 The resistance..could no more keep down the above-said bullet from receding from the earth [etc.]. 1759 Johnson Rasselas xxviii [xxix], Those conditions..are so constituted, that, as we approach one, we recede from another. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xi. 73 We receded from him into the solitudes. 1868 Queen Victoria Life Highl. 26 As the fair shores of Scotland receded more and more from our view. |
d. To become more distant; to lie further back or away; to slope backwards.
| 1777 Mason Eng. Garden ii. 86 Oft let the turf recede, and oft approach, With varied breadth. 1784 Cowper Task i. 65 Not with easy slope Receding wide, they pressed against the ribs. 1815 Shelley Alastor 404 Where the embowering trees recede and leave A little space of green expanse. 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile vii. 167 The mountains here recede so far as to be almost out of sight. |
e. Of a colour: to appear to be more distant from the eye than another in the same plane; = retire v. 3 b. Cf. advance v. 2 b.
| 1935 A. H. Rutt Home Furnishing iv. 35 Advancing and receding qualities in colors are a reality, as psychologists have proved. The warm hues seem to advance and the cool ones to recede. 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 152/1 The cool tints..tend to ‘recede’ and will give a feeling of space. |
2. a. To depart from some usual or natural state, an authority, standard, principle, etc. ? Obs. (Common 1650–1700.)
| 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. iii. (1520) 19/1 It is mervayle that suche men so excedynge in wyt..receded from the knowlege of the very god. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. xi. 50 Receding from custome when their interest requires it. 1665 Glanvill Def. Van. Dogm. 60 By the instances alleg'd, he recedes from his Master Aristotle. 1702 Stubbs For God or Baal 17 The Brute..recedes not from the Directions of Instinct. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) I. 194 We recede very widely from the intentions of Nature. |
b. Of things: To depart, differ, or vary from something else. Now rare.
| 1576 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 3) 3/1 If they held any thyng whiche receaded from the doctrine and rule of Christ. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. i. §3, I sawe well that knowledge recedeth as farre from ignorance as light doth from darknesse. 1659 Hammond On Ps. lxxxvi. 2 Another possible notion of the word, and which recedes very little from this. 1724 A. Collins Gr. Chr. Relig. 171 The Septuagint, which greatly receded from the Hebrew text, by its additions [etc.]. 1834 M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. iii. 12 In paths now approaching to, now receding from, the elliptical form. |
3. † a. To fall away (in allegiance or adherence) from a person. Obs. rare.
| 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. iv. (1520) 33/1 Many kyngdoms, the whiche receded from all other Emperoures, wylfully to this man torned agayne. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 75 That neither he nor his sonne, should recede or disseuer from Pope Alexander, or from his Catholique successors. |
b. To draw back from a bargain, promise, etc. Also without const.
| 1648 Duke of Hamilton in H. Papers (Camden) 154 They ar so far from receding from anie engagement to you. 1651 G. W. tr. Cowel's Inst. 184 If..the Buyer repents of his Bargain, so that he desires to recede, he shall loose what he gave. 1759 Robertson Hist. Scot. v. Wks. 1813 I. 357 By receding from the offer which she made. 1792 Anecd. W. Pitt III. xxxix. 51 How could I recede from such an engagement? 1802 M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. 220 A. felt no inclination to recede from the agreement, into which he had entered. 1885 Law Rep. 29 Chanc. Div. 437 There was a concluded contract from which neither party could recede. |
c. To withdraw from a position, proposal, undertaking, opinion, etc. Also without const.
| 1716 Lond. Gaz. No. 5447/2 The Deputies..thought fit to recede from the Objections. 1738 Col. Rec. Pennsylv. IV. 324 They hope the Governour would recede from this part of the Amendment. 1844 Thirlwall Greece lxiii. VIII. 233 Chilon, whose hopes were dashed by this failure, now only persevered because it was too late to recede. 1863 H. Cox Instit. iii. ii. 602 From this opinion some of the judges subsequently receded. |
4. a. To go away, depart, retire (from or to a place or scene). rare.
| c 1485 E.E. Misc. (Warton Club) 29 The grettyst payn..Was when my sole dyde from me reysede. 1679 Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 446 About the same time that the Treasurer went away, 'twas reported that the dutchess of Portsmouth receeded also. 1691 ― Ath. Oxon. I. 5 Afterwards receeding to his Native Country, he wrot in his own Language. 1818–20 E. Thompson Cullen's Nosol. Method. (ed. 3) 201 Inflammation of the joints suddenly receding. [1842 Brande Dict. Sci. etc., s.v. Recess of the Empire, They are thought to have been so termed from being pronounced at the time when the diet was about to ‘recede’, or separate. 1892 Kirk Abingdon Acc. p. xxviii, Two monks had ‘receded’, one to Colne.] |
† b. To retire from an occupation. Obs.—1
| 1666 Ormonde MSS. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. V. 20 Bankes thinks to recede from those imployments to follow his owne. |
† c. To have recourse to one. Obs.—1
| 1681–6 J. Scott Chr. Life (1747) III. 368 This Power is subordinate to the Civil Legislation..and..stands obliged to recede to the Civil Sovereign. |
5. a. To go back or away in time.
| 1788 E. Sheridan Let. 27 July in Betsy Sheridan's Jrnl. (1960) iv. 107 And now to recede—I had just sent off my letter yesterday when Mrs Angelo call'd, as usual all life and spirits and full of news. 1831 Blackw. Mag. XXX. 660 From Green and Bewick..let us recede (in a chronological sense) to Hogarth. 1834 J. C. Calhoun Wks. (1864) II. 392, I shall endeavor to recede, in imagination, a century from the present time. |
b. To go or fall back, to decline, in character or value.
| 1828 Hallam Mid. Ages i. ix. (1869) 585 A nation that ceases to produce original and inventive minds..will recede from step to step. 1883 Daily News 7 Nov. 4/7 American prices were firm, but foreign Government stocks receded fractionally. |
6. trans. † a. To retract, withdraw. Obs.—1
| 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 57 Rather willing to submit to the hazard of Lewes his breach of Faith, then to the blame of receding his own from pollicitation. |
b. To remove back or away.
| 1819 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 364 The widening of Dale Street by taking down and receding of the houses. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 51 Introducing two lenses..and approaching or receding these by means of the slider. |
Hence reˈceded ppl. a.; reˈceder; reˈceding vbl. n.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xxv. §24 When there is once a receding from the word of God. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1768) IV. xxxv. 214 ‘Do I what, Madam?’ ‘And why vile man?’..O the sweet receder! 1909 M. B. Saunders Litany Lane i. vi. 69 Her attendant lady.., Augusta of the receded fringe. |
▪ III. recede, v.2
(riːˈsiːd)
[f. re- 5 a + cede v.]
trans. To cede again, give up to a former owner.
| 1771 J. Bailey in F. Chase Hist. Dartmouth Coll. (1891) I. 435 The lands on the west side Connecticut river might be receded back to New Hampshire. 1805 M. Cutler in Life, Jrnls. & Corr. (1888) II. 185 The first step was to re-cede Alexandria to Virginia. |