- recoil (n.)
- c.1300, "retreat," from recoil (v.).
- recoil (v.)
- early 13c., "force back, drive back," from Old French reculer "to go back, recede, retreat," from Vulgar Latin *reculare, from Latin re- "back" (see re-) + culus "backside." Meaning "shrink back, retreat" is first recorded c.1300; and that of "spring back" (as a gun) in 1520s. Related: Recoiled; recoiling.