To recoil is to spring back or back away.
(verb)See recoil in Webster's New World College Dictionary
intransitive verb
Origin: ME recoilen < OFr reculer < re-, back + cul < L culus, the anus, buttocks: see culet
noun
See recoil in American Heritage Dictionary 4
intransitive verb re·coiled, re·coil·ing, re·coils
Origin:
Origin: Middle English recoilen
Origin: , from Old French reculer
Origin: : re-, re-
Origin: + cul, buttocks (from Latin cūlus; see (s)keu- in Indo-European roots)
.Related Forms:
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