verb
retire
To leave a job permanently, or withdraw from activity or view.
Where it comes from
Retire ordinarily means to leave a job permanently, or withdraw from activity or view. English retire came from Middle French retirer, formed from re-, back, and tirer, to draw or pull. Its governing image was withdrawal: drawing a person or thing away from where it had been active. The military sense, to retreat from action, appears before the familiar career sense.
How the meaning developed
Withdrawal then supplied a connected family: retiring to a room, retiring for bed, taking an object out of service, settling a debt, and finally leaving one's occupation.
Sources
Definitions adapted from Open English WordNet where applicable. License and attribution. Word-history text comes from Lexifour’s sourced social research; pages are assembled automatically, not individually fact-checked on every update.
Updated 2026-10-05. Report a correction.