different between retire vs decay

English

Etymology 1

From Middle French retirer (“draw back”), from prefix re- (“back”), + verb tirer (“draw, pull”), from Old French tirer, tirier (“to draw out, arrange, adorn”), from tire, tiere (“row, rank, order, dress”) of Germanic origin, akin to Old English and Old Saxon Old Saxon t?r (“fame, glory, ornament”), Old English t?er (“rank, row”), Old High German ziari, z?ri (“ornament”), German German Zier (“ornament, adornment”), zieren (“to adorn”). More at tier.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???ta??(?)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???ta??/
• Rhymes: -a??(?)
• Hyphenation: re?tire

Verb

retire (third-person singular simple present retires, present participle retiring, simple past and past participle retired)

1. (intransitive) To stop working on a permanent basis, usually because of old age or illness.

2. (transitive, sometimes reflexive) To withdraw; to take away.

   • He […] retired himself, his wife, and children into a forest.

   • 1592, John Davies, The Original, Nature, and Immortality of the Soul

     As when the sun is present all the year, / And never doth retire his golden ray.

3. (transitive) To cease use or production of something.
4. (transitive) To withdraw from circulation, or from the market; to take up and pay.

5. (transitive) To cause to retire; specifically, to designate as no longer qualified for active service; to place on the retired list.

6. (intransitive, cricket, of a batsman) To voluntarily stop batting before being dismissed so that the next batsman can bat.

7. (transitive, baseball, of a fielder) To make a play which results in a runner or the batter being out, either by means of a put out, fly out or strikeout.

8. (intransitive) To go back or return; to withdraw or retreat, especially from public view; to go into privacy.

9. (intransitive) To retreat from action or danger; to withdraw for safety or pleasure.

10. (intransitive) To recede; to fall or bend back.

11. (intransitive) To go to bed.

12. (transitive) To remove or cease to use.

Derived terms

Related terms

• tirer

Translations

Noun

retire (plural retires)

1. (rare) The act of retiring, or the state of being retired.
2. A place to which one retires.

   Synonym: retreat

3. (dated) A call sounded on a bugle, announcing to skirmishers that they are to retire, or fall back.

Etymology 2

From re- +? tire.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?i?ta??/

Alternative forms

• retyre

Verb

retire (third-person singular simple present retires, present participle retiring, simple past and past participle retired)

1. (transitive, American spelling) To fit (a vehicle) with new tires.

Anagrams

• Terrie, reiter, retier, étrier

French

Verb

retire

1. first-person singular present indicative of retirer
2. third-person singular present indicative of retirer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of retirer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of retirer
5. second-person singular imperative of retirer

Anagrams

• étirer, étrier, itérer

Portuguese

Verb

retire

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of retirar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of retirar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of retirar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of retirar

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /re?ti?e/, [re?t?i.?e]

Verb

retire

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of retirar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of retirar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of retirar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of retirar.

English

Etymology

From Middle English decayen, dekeyen (“to decrease, diminish”), from Anglo-Norman decaeir (“to fall away, decay, decline”), from Medieval Latin *d?cadere, restored form of Latin decidere (“to fall away, fail, sink, perish”), from de (“down”) + cadere (“to fall”); compare decadent and decadence.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??ke?/
• Rhymes: -e?
• (US) enPR: d?-k??, IPA^(key): /di.?ke?/

Noun

decay (countable and uncountable, plural decays)

1. The process or result of being gradually decomposed.
2. A deterioration of condition; loss of status or fortune.

Derived terms

Related terms

• deciduous

Translations

Verb

decay (third-person singular simple present decays, present participle decaying, simple past and past participle decayed)

1. (intransitive) To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.

   The pair loved to take pictures in the decaying hospital on forty-third street.

   1. (intransitive, electronics, of storage media or the data on them) To undergo bit rot, that is, gradual degradation.
   2. (intransitive, computing, of software) To undergo software rot, that is, to fail to be updated in a changing environment, so as to eventually become legacy or obsolete.
   3. (intransitive, physics, of a satellite's orbit) To undergo prolonged reduction in altitude (above the orbited body).
      • 2009, Francis Lyall, Paul B. Larsen, Space Law: A Treatise, page 120:

        Damaged on lift-off, Skylab was left in orbit until its orbit decayed.

2. (intransitive, of organic material) To rot, to go bad.

   The cat's body decayed rapidly.

3. (intransitive, transitive, physics, chemistry, of an unstable atom) To change by undergoing fission, by emitting radiation, or by capturing or losing one or more electrons.
   • 2005, Encyclopedia of Earth Science (edited by Timothy M. Kusky; ?ISBN, page 349:

     Uranium decays to radium through a long series of steps with a cumulative half-life of 4.4 billion years.

4. (intransitive, transitive, physics, of a quantum system) To undergo optical decay, that is, to relax to a less excited state, usually by emitting a photon or phonon.
5. (intransitive, aviation) Loss of airspeed due to drag.
6. (transitive) To cause to rot or deteriorate.

   The extreme humidity decayed the wooden sculptures in the museum's collection in a matter of years.

Translations

Further reading

• decay in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• decay in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Dacey