Verb

(en verb)

To take away; to withdraw or remove.

*{{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=May 27 , author=Nathan Rabin , title=TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992) , work=The Onion AV Club citation , page= , passage=The Conan O’Brien-penned half-hour has the capacity to rip our collective hearts out the way the cute, funny bad girl next door does to Bart when she reveals that her new boyfriend is Jimbo Jones, but the show keeps shying away from genuine emotion in favor of jokes that, while overwhelmingly funny, detract from the poignancy and the emotional intimacy of the episode.}}

To take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry.

* Drayton

That calumnious critic / Detracting what laboriously we do.

Verb

(en verb)

To pull back inside.

An airplane retracts its wheels for flight.

(ambitransitive) To draw back; to draw up.

Muscles retract after amputation.

A cat can retract its claws.

To take back or withdraw something one has said.

I retract all the accusations I made about the senator and sincerely hope he won't sue me.

* Bishop Stillingfleet

I would as freely have retracted this charge of idolatry as I ever made it.

* Granville

She will, and she will not; she grants, denies, / Consents, retracts , advances, and then flies.

To take back, as a grant or favour previously bestowed; to revoke.

(Woodward)