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Retain   /rɪtˈeɪn/  /ritˈeɪn/   Listen
verb
Retain  v. t.  (past & past part. retained; pres. part. retaining)  
1.
To continue to hold; to keep in possession; not to lose, part with, or dismiss; to restrain from departure, escape, or the like. "Thy shape invisible retain." "Be obedient, and retain Unalterably firm his love entire." "An executor may retain a debt due to him from the testator."
2.
To keep in pay; to employ by a preliminary fee paid; to hire; to engage; as, to retain a counselor. "A Benedictine convent has now retained the most learned father of their order to write in its defense."
3.
To restrain; to prevent. (Obs.)
Retaining wall (Arch. & Engin.), a wall built to keep any movable backing, or a bank of sand or earth, in its place; called also retain wall.
Synonyms: To keep; hold; restrain. See Keep.



Retain  v. i.  
1.
To belong; to pertain. (Obs.) "A somewhat languid relish, retaining to bitterness."
2.
To keep; to continue; to remain. (Obs.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Retain" Quotes from Famous Books



... neutral part. There are hundreds of subjects which we have never examined, nor ever could or can examine, upon which we are all, nevertheless, expressing every day stubborn opinions. We all have to acquire some measure of the philosophic mind, and be content to retain a large army of thoughts, equipped each thought with its crooked bayonet, a note of interrogation. In reasoning, also, when we do reason, we have to remember fairly that "not proven" does not always mean untrue. And in accepting matters of testimony, we must rigidly ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 3, March, 1852 • Various

... the hurry of the moment, standing by the foremast with a knife in his hand. I was powerless to reach him from where I stood, and a moment later the lifeline which held me to the foremast was severed, when, despite a desperate effort which I made to retain my hold, I was swept ...
— Adventures in Southern Seas - A Tale of the Sixteenth Century • George Forbes

... protection of the Nabob of the Carnatic, did not receive the assistance they expected;,they surrendered at the first shot, promising to pay a considerable sum for the ransom of Madras, which the French were to retain as security until the debt was completely paid. La Bourdonnais had received from France this express order "You will not, keep any of the conquests you may make in India." The chests containing the ransom of ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume VI. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

... land he possessed in or about Middlemarch, he had consulted Caleb Garth. Like every one else who had business of that sort, he wanted to get the agent who was more anxious for his employer's interests than his own. With regard to Stone Court, since Bulstrode wished to retain his hold on the stock, and to have an arrangement by which he himself could, if he chose, resume his favorite recreation of superintendence, Caleb had advised him not to trust to a mere bailiff, but to let the land, stock, and implements ...
— Middlemarch • George Eliot

... Suomarius, king of the Allemanni, arrived unexpectedly with his suite; and he who had formerly been fierce and eager for any injury to the Romans, was now inclined to regard it as an unexpected gain to be permitted to retain his former possessions. And because his looks and his gait showed him to be a suppliant, he was received as a friend, and desired to be of good cheer. But still he submitted himself to Julian's discretion, and implored ...
— The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus • Ammianus Marcellinus


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