definition of
recoil

[1] #1 recoil v. [flinch, squinch, funk, cringe, shrink, wince, quail] draw back, as with fear or pain; "she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf". wn

[2] #2 recoil n. [kick] the backward jerk of a gun when it is fired. wn

[3] #3 recoil n. [repercussion, rebound, backlash] a movement back from an impact. wn

[4] #4 recoil v. [backfire, backlash] come back to the originator of an action with an undesired effect; "Your comments may backfire and cause you a lot of trouble". wn

[5] #5 recoil v. [bounce, resile, take a hop, spring, bound, rebound, reverberate, ricochet] spring back; spring away from an impact; "The rubber ball bounced"; "These particles do not resile but they unite after they collide". wn