Definition of retort

• n. - To bend or curve back; as, a retorted line.
• n. - To throw back; to reverberate; to reflect.
• n. - To return, as an argument, accusation, censure, or incivility; as, to retort the charge of vanity.
• v. i. - To return an argument or a charge; to make a severe reply.
• v. t. - The return of, or reply to, an argument, charge, censure, incivility, taunt, or witticism; a quick and witty or severe response.
• v. t. - A vessel in which substances are subjected to distillation or decomposition by heat. It is made of different forms and materials for different uses, as a bulb of glass with a curved beak to enter a receiver for general chemical operations, or a cylinder or semicylinder of cast iron for the manufacture of gas in gas works.