Pat vs Retort - What's the difference?
pat | retort |
The sound of a light slap or tap with a soft flat object, especially of a footstep
A light tap or slap, especially with the hands
A flattish lump of soft matter, especially butter or dung.
* Charles Dickens
To (gently) tap the flat of one's hand on a person or thing.
* 1877 , (Anna Sewell), (Black Beauty) Chapter 22[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Black_Beauty/22]
To hit lightly and repeatedly with the flat of the hand to make smooth or flat
* 1900 , L. Frank Baum , The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Chapter 23
(Australia, New Zealand) To stroke or fondle (an animal).
To gently rain.
timely, suitable, apt, opportune, ready for the occasion; especially of things spoken
* 1788, Cowper, Pity for Africans , p 18
trite, being superficially complete, lacking originality
* 2010, New York Times ,
opportunely, in a timely or suitable way.
* c''. 1600 , William Shakespeare, '' III.iii
Perfectly.
patent
(knitting) pattern
* 2012 , Kari Cornell, Knitting Sweaters from around the World (page 52)
A sharp or witty reply, or one which turns an argument against its originator; a comeback.
To say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation.
*{{quote-book, year=1905, author=
, title=
, chapter=1 To make a remark which reverses an argument upon its originator; to return, as an argument, accusation, censure, or incivility.
* Milton
To bend or curve back.
* Southey
To throw back; to reverberate; to reflect.
* Shakespeare
(chemistry) A flask with a rounded base and a long neck that is bent down and tapered, used to heat a liquid for distillation.
:* 1893', A large curved ' retort was boiling furiously in the bluish flame of a Bunsen burner, and the distilled drops were condensing into a two-litre measure. — Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The Naval Treaty’ (Norton 2005, p.670)
A container in which material is subjected to high temperatures]] as part of an industrial manufacturing process, especially during the smelting and [[forge, forging of metal.
As a noun retort is
a sharp or witty reply, or one which turns an argument against its originator; a comeback or retort can be (chemistry) a flask with a rounded base and a long neck that is bent down and tapered, used to heat a liquid for distillation.As a verb retort is
to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation or retort can be to heat in a retort.pat
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) . For loss of ''l , compare (patch) for (platch); (pate) for (plate), etc. See (l).Noun
(en noun)- It looked like a tessellated work of pats of butter.
Derived terms
* pat on the back (n.) * patter * pitter-pat: a diminutive of footfalls. "the pitter-pat of little feet running around the house."Verb
(patt)- To show affection, he decided he would pat the boy on the head.
- He came round to each of us to pat and speak to us for the last time; his voice sounded very sad.
- I patted the cookie dough into shape.
- Before they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair, and the Lion shook the dust out of his mane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.
- Do you want to pat the cat?
Derived terms
* pat down * pat on the back (v.)Adjective
(en adjective)- a pat expression
- A story so pat , you may think it is coined.
Editorial: Jobs and the Class of 2010, May 23.
- The pat answer is that college students should consider graduate school as a way to delay a job search until things turn around, and that more high school students should go to college to improve their prospects. ''
Derived terms
* pat handAdverb
(en adverb)- Now might I do it pat
- He has the routine down pat .
Derived terms
* pat in the middleSee also
* strike * hit * feel * nameEtymology 2
Abbreviation.Noun
(en noun)- Work in pat to next underarm marker, sm, place next st on holder
Anagrams
* ----retort
English
(wikipedia retort)Etymology 1
From (etyl) retortus, from .Noun
(en noun)Verb
(en verb)citation, passage=“It is a pity,” he retorted with aggravating meekness, “that they do not use a little common sense. The case resembles that of Columbus' ?egg, and is every bit as simple. […]”}}
- to retort the charge of vanity
- And with retorted scorn his back he turned.
- a retorted line
- With retorted head, pruned themselves as they floated.
- As when his virtues, shining upon others, / Heat them and they retort that heat again / To the first giver.