retrieve

/rɪˈtriv/

/rɪˈtriv/

Other forms: retrieved; retrieving; retrieves

When you retrieve something, you bring it back. Lots of dogs love to retrieve tennis balls, bringing them back to you over and over again.

You might retrieve your cell phone from the car, or the toys a baby throws repeatedly on the floor. You can also retrieve a memory from the recesses of your mind, or struggle to remember someone's name and then suddenly retrieve it. A retriever is a dog that's bred to bring things back — in fact, this is the word's earliest use, from the fifteenth century. The Old French root is retreuver, "find again," from re-, "again," and trouver, "to find."

Definitions of retrieve

1. verb

   get or find back; recover the use of
   synonyms: find, recover, regain

   find, regain

   come upon after searching; find the location of something that was missed or lost

   types:

   access

   obtain or retrieve from a storage device; as of information on a computer

   address

   access or locate by address

   log in, log on, log-in

   enter a computer

   type of:

   acquire, get

   come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
2. verb

   go for and bring back
   “retrieve the car from the parking garage”

   type of:

   bring, convey, fetch, get

   go or come after and bring or take back
3. verb

   run after, pick up, and bring to the master
   “train the dog to retrieve”

   type of:

   bring, convey, fetch, get

   go or come after and bring or take back
4. verb

   recall knowledge from memory; have a recollection
   synonyms: call back, call up, recall, recollect, remember, think

   types:

   know

   perceive as familiar

   recognise, recognize

   perceive to be the same

   brush up, refresh, review

   refresh one's memory

   identify

   consider to be equal or the same