retain
/ɹɪˈteɪn/ verb B1- Often followed by from: to hold back (someone or something); to check, to prevent, to restrain, to stop.
- To hold back (a pupil) instead of allowing them to advance to the next class or year; to keep back.
- Of a thing: to hold or keep (something) inside it; to contain. · water retained by a dam
- To hold back (tissue or a substance, especially urine) in the body or a body organ.
- To hold (something) secure; to prevent (something) from becoming detached or separated.
- To keep (something) in control or possession; to continue having (something); to keep back.
- To keep (something) in the mind; to recall, to remember.
- To keep (something) in place or use, instead of removing or abolishing it; to preserve.
Plural retain · He/she/it retains · Past retained · Past participle retained · -ing form retaining
Verb forms
- Base form
- retain
- He/she/it
- retains
- Past
- retained
- Past participle
- retained
- -ing form
- retaining
From the library
In the ray of light which entered by the narrow window of his cell, he held open in his left hand, of which alone, it will be recollected, he retained the use, a sheet of paper, which, from being constantly rolled into a small compass, had the form of a cylinder, and was not easily kept open.
Beside him glided Caderousse, whose desire to partake of the good things provided for the wedding party had induced him to become reconciled to the Dantès, father and son, although there still lingered in his mind a faint and unperfect recollection of the events of the preceding night; just as the brain retains on waking in the morning the dim and misty outline of a dream.
“And had you been captain, should you have retained him in his employment?”
Villefort retained his place, but his marriage was put off until a more favorable opportunity.
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