re-cēdo, cessi, cessum, 3, v. n., to go back, fall back, give ground, retire, withdraw, recede. Lit. (class.; cf.: decedo, abscedo): pone nos recede, Plaut. Poen. 3, 2, 34: ego abs te procul recedam, id. Mil. 2, 4, 4: hinc, id. Bacch. 4, 1, 7: illuc, id. Rud. 3, 5, 7: recedere loco, id. Am. 1, 1, 84; cf.: centuriones ex eo quo stabant loco recesserunt, Caes. B. G. 5, 43: non modo illum e Galliā non discessisse, sed ne a Mutinā quidem recessisse, Cic. Phil. 8, 7, 21: procul a telo veniente, Ov. M. 12, 359: de medio, Cic. Rosc. Am. 38, 112: ab hoste, Ov. P. 3, 1, 151: longius, Verg. G. 4, 191: tristis recedo, Hor. Ep. 1, 16, 35; id. C. 2, 19, 31: ab Illiturgi, Liv. 24, 41: in castra Corneliana, Caes. B. C. 2, 30 fin.

— In partic., to retire to one's bedchamber, go to rest, Petr. 85, 5; Ov. Ib. 239.

— Transf. Of inanimate and abstract things: ut illae undae ad alios accedant, ab aliis autem recedant, Cic. Planc. 6, 15: verba movere loco, quamvis invita recedant, yield, Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 113: multa ferunt anni venientes commoda secum, Multa recedentes adimunt, the departing years, id. A. P. 176: abeant ac recedant voces illae, Plin. Pan. 2, 2.

— Of places, things, etc., to stand back, recede (i. e. to be distant or retired; freq., esp. after the Aug. per.): secreta parentis Anchisae domus arboribusque obtecta recessit, Verg. A. 2, 300; cf. Cat. 64, 43; and: etsi lata recessit Urbe domus, Stat. Th. 5, 242; Plin. Ep. 2, 17, 21: Palaestina vocabatur, quā contingit Arabas ... et quā recedit intus, Damascena, Plin. 5, 12, 13, § 66: Magna Graecia in tres sinus recedens Ausonii maris, id. 3, 10, 15, § 95; 4, 10, 17, § 33; Sen. Cons. ad Marc. 18.

—Of nations: gens Cappadocum longissime Ponticarum omnium introrsus recedens, Plin. 6, 8, 8, § 24.

—In a painting, etc.: pictor vi artis suae efficit, ut quaedam eminere in opere, quaedam recessisse credamus, Quint. 2, 17, 21; cf.: venter recessit, Plin. Ep. 3, 6, 2.

—Poet., of places, which appear to recede by our departure from them: provehimur portu, terraeque urbesque recedunt, Verg. A. 3, 72: mea terra recedit, Ov. M. 8, 139; 11, 466; Sil. 3, 157; Stat. Th. 1, 549 al.

— In gen., to go away, withdraw, retire, depart from a place, to abandon a thing, = discedere. Lit. (in good prose very rare), = discedere, haec effatu' pater, germana, repente recessit, vanished, Enn. ap. Cic. Div. 1, 20, 40 (Ann. v. 48 Vahl.): nec vero a stabulis pluviā impendente recedunt Longius (apes), Verg. G. 4, 191; Plin. Ep. 1, 13, 2.

— Transf., of things, to separate from any thing (with which it was previously connected): in aliis ossibus ex toto saepe fragmentum a fragmento recedit, Cels. 8, 7, 1: carnes ab ossibus, Plin. 22, 8, 9, § 22; 19, 5, 23, § 67: caput e cervice, Ov. P. 2, 8, 65; for which also: caput cervice, id. H. 16, 153; cf. id. F. 6, 708; Luc. 8, 674.

— Trop., to withdraw, depart, desist (class.; esp. freq. in Cic. and Quint.): si quid vos per laborem recte feceritis, labor ille a vobis cito recedet, Cato ap. Gell. 16, 1, 4: avius a verā longe ratione recedit, Lucr. 2, 229: senes, ut in otia tuta recedant, aiunt, etc., Hor. S. 1, 1, 31: ab officio recedere, Cic. Off. 3, 4, 19; Auct. Her. 3, 3, 5; Cic. Caecin. 20, 58: ab armis, i. e. to lay them down, id. Rosc. Am. 6, 16: penitus a naturā, id. Fin. 4, 16, 43: ab eodem exemplo, Quint. 1, 6, 6; 2, 8, 13; 7, 3, 21: a sententiis ejus, ab omni voluntate, consiliisque, Cic. Att. 12, 4, 2: a vitā, i. e. to kill one's self, id. Tusc. 4, 17, 40 (but Plin. 29, 1, 5, § 6, to die, in gen., a doubtful conjecture; Jahn, procedente vitā): a veritatis viā longe, Lact. 2, 8, 1: ab oppugnatione, Hirt. B. G. 8, 40.

—Very freq. of inanimate and abstract subjects: postquam recessit vita patrio corpore, Plaut. Merc. prol. 73: (nomen hostis) a peregrino recessit et proprie in eo, qui arma contra ferret, remansit, has lost the signification of foreigner, Cic. Off. 1, 12, 37; so, res a consuetudine, id. Quint. 21, 67; Quint. 2, 13, 11: figurae sententiarum ab illo simplici modo indicandi recedunt, id. 9, 2, 1: ab usu cotidiano, id. 10, 1, 44 et saep.

—Poet., with simple abl.: sic nunquam corde recedit Nata tuo, departs, Stat. S. 3, 5, 55.

—Absol., to vanish, pass away, disappear: et pariter Phoebes, pariter maris ira recessit, Ov. M. 12, 36: spes, Luc. 7, 688: quonam nostri tibi cura recessit? Verg. A. 2, 595: fortuna recessit, id. ib. 3, 53.

— With in: in ventos vita recessit, passed away into the winds, Verg. A. 4, 705.

— Hence, * recessus, a, um, P. a. (acc. to I. B.), drawn back, receding: scaena recessior, standing farther back, Vitr. 5, 8.