Verb

(retriev)

To regain or get back something.

to retrieve''' one's character or independence; to '''retrieve a thrown ball

* Dryden

With late repentance now they would retrieve / The bodies they forsook, and wish to live.

To rescue (a) creature(s)

To salvage something

To remedy or rectify something.

To remember or recall something.

To fetch or carry back something.

* Berkeley

to retrieve them from their cold, trivial conceits

To fetch and bring in game.

The cook doesn't care what's shot, only what's actually retrieved .

To fetch and bring in game systematically.

Dog breeds called 'retrievers' were selected for retrieving .

To fetch or carry back systematically, notably as a game.

Most dogs love retrieving , regardless of what object is thrown.

(sports) To make a difficult but successful return of the ball.

(obsolete) To remedy the evil consequence of, to repair (a loss or damage).

* Prior

Accept my sorrow, and retrieve my fall.

* Burke

There is much to be done and much to be retrieved .

Verb

(en verb)

To keep in possession or use.

* Milton

Be obedient, and retain / Unalterably firm his love entire.

* 1856 : (Gustave Flaubert), (Madame Bovary), Part III Chapter XI, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling

A strange thing was that Bovary, while continually thinking of Emma, was forgetting her. He grew desperate as he felt this image fading from his memory in spite of all efforts to retain it. Yet every night he dreamt of her; it was always the same dream. He drew near her, but when he was about to clasp her she fell into decay in his arms.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)

, title=(The China Governess) , chapter=1 citation , passage=The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.}}

To keep in one's pay or service.

* Addison

A Benedictine convent has now retained the most learned father of their order to write in its defence.

To employ by paying a retainer.

To hold secure.

(obsolete) To restrain; to prevent.

(obsolete) To belong; to pertain.

* Boyle

A somewhat languid relish, retaining to bitterness.