draw back

1. Retreat, as in The heckler drew back into the crowd to avoid being identified . [c. 1300]

2. Withdraw from an undertaking, as in I was too deeply committed to draw back now . [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

Another Otsuchi resident, Yukari Kurosawa, was told a simpler adage when she was young: “If a big earthquake hits and the ocean draws back, run!”

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Instead of playing Lecter as obviously monstrous, "you go the opposite way, you draw back", he explains.

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He called it "a shame" that the United States was "drawing back" from scientific exploration in the region.

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Nor is it good news for workers, whose job security becomes less stable if businesses draw back on investment and start to cut costs.

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“We can’t allow this kind of bullying to make us so fearful that we are paralyzed and that we draw back from our core values.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times