withdraw

From Middle English withdrawen (“to draw away, draw back”), from with- (“away, back”) + drawen (“to draw”). More at with-, draw.

• IPA^(key): /wɪðˈdɹɔː/, /wɪθˈdɹɔː/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː

withdraw (third-person singular simple present withdraws, present participle withdrawing, simple past withdrew, past participle withdrawn)

1. (transitive) To pull (something) back, aside, or away.
   • Hooker

     Impossible it is that God should withdraw his presence from anything.

2. (intransitive) To stop talking to, or interacting with, other people and start thinking thoughts that are not related to what is happening around.
3. (transitive) To take back (a comment, etc).

   to withdraw false charges

4. (transitive) To remove, to stop providing (one's support, etc).
5. (transitive) To extract (money from an account).
6. (intransitive) To retreat.
7. (intransitive) To be in withdrawal from an addictive drug etc. [from 20th c.]
   • 1994, Edward St Aubyn, Bad News, Picador 2006, p. 201:

     Simon had tried to rob a bank while he was withdrawing, but he had been forced to surrender to the police after they had fired several volleys at him.

• (take back): recant, unsay; See also Thesaurus:recant