verb (used with object), re·trieved, re·triev·ing.
- to recover or regain: to retrieve the stray ball.
- to bring back to a former and better state; restore: to retrieve one’s fortunes.
- to make amends for: to retrieve an error.
- to make good; repair: to retrieve a loss.
- Hunting. (of hunting dogs) to fetch (killed or wounded game).
- to draw back or reel in (a fishing line).
- to rescue; save.
- (in tennis, squash, handball, etc.) to make an in-bounds return of (a shot requiring running with the hand extended).
- Computers. to locate and read (data) from storage, as for display on a monitor.
verb (used without object), re·trieved, re·triev·ing.
- Hunting. to retrieve game.
- to retrieve a fishing line.
noun
- an act of retrieving; recovery.
- the possibility of recovery.
verb (mainly tr)
- to get or fetch back again; recoverhe retrieved his papers from various people’s drawers
- to bring back to a more satisfactory state; revive
- to extricate from trouble or danger; rescue or save
- to recover or make newly available (stored information) from a computer system
- (also intr) (of a dog) to find and fetch (shot game)
- tennis squash badminton to return successfully (a shot difficult to reach)
- to recall; remember
noun
- the act of retrieving
- the chance of being retrieved
early 15c., retreve, originally in reference to dogs finding lost game, from Middle French retruev-, stem of Old French retreuver (Modern French retrouver) “find again, recover, meet again, recognize,” from re- “again” (see re-) + trouver “to find,” probably from Vulgar Latin *tropare “to compose” (see trove). Altered 16c. to retrive; modern form is from mid-17c.