recoil

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
recoil/rɪˈkɔɪl/

▶verb

• 1 suddenly spring back or flinch in fear, horror, or disgust.

  ■ feel such emotions at the thought of something.

• 2 (of a gun) move abruptly backwards as a reaction on firing.

  ■ spring back through force of impact or elasticity.

• 3 (recoil on/upon) (of an action) have an adverse consequence for (the originator).

▶noun the action of recoiling.

– derivatives
recoilless adjective.

word history: Recoil came into English from Old French reculer ‘move back’, and first meant ‘drive or force back’ or ‘retreat’. The -coil part comes from Latin culus, which means ‘buttocks, bottom’: this gave rise to the French word cul, the source of cul-de-sac (literally ‘bottom of a sack’) and culottes.