Part 289

Retention cyst (Med.), a cyst produced by obstruction of a duct leading from a secreting organ and the consequent retention of the natural secretions.

Re*ten"tive (?), a. [Cf. F. rétentif.] Having power to retain; as, a retentive memory.

Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, Can be retentive to the strength of spirit.

Shak.

Re*ten"tive, n. That which retains or confines; a restraint. [R.] Bp. Hall.

Re*ten"tive*ly, adv. In a retentive manner.

Re*ten"tive*ness, n. The quality of being retentive.

Re`ten*tiv"i*ty (?), n. The power of retaining; retentive force; as, the retentivity of a magnet.

||Re*ten"tor (?), n. [L., a retainer.] (Zoöl.) A muscle which serves to ||retain an organ or part in place, esp. when retracted. See Illust. of ||Phylactolemata.

Re`te*pore (?), n. [L. rete a net + porus pore.] (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of bryozoans of the genus Retepora. They form delicate calcareous corals, usually composed of thin fenestrated fronds.

Re*tex" (?), v. t. [L. retexere, lit., to unweave; pref. re- re + texere to weave. ] To annual, as orders. [Obs.] Bp. Hacket.

Re*tex"ture (?), n. The act of weaving or forming again. Carlyle.

Reth"or (?), n. [Cf. F. rhéteur. See Rhetor.] A rhetorician; a careful writer. [Obs.]

If a rethor couthe fair endite.

Chaucer.

Reth"o*ryke (?), n. Rhetoric. [Obs.] Chaucer.

||Re`ti*a"ri*us (?), n. [L., fr. rete a net.] (Rom.Antiq.) A gladiator ||armed with a net for entangling his adversary and a trident for ||despatching him.

Re"ti*a*ry (?), n. [See Retiarius.] 1. (Zoöl.) Any spider which spins webs to catch its prey.

2. A retiarius.

Re`ti*a*ry, a. [Cf. LL. retiarius.] 1. Netlike.

This work is in retiary, or hanging textures.

Sir T. Browne.

2. Constructing or using a web, or net, to catch prey; -- said of certain spiders.

3. Armed with a net; hence, skillful to entangle.

Scholastic retiary versatility of logic.

Coleridge.

Ret"i*cence (?), n. [L. reticentia: cf. F. réticence.] 1. The quality or state of being reticent, or keeping silence; the state of holding one's tonque; refraining to speak of that which is suggested; uncommunicativeness.

Such fine reserve and noble reticence.