Other forms: retrieved, retrieving, retrieves
To retrieve is to go and bring something back. Retrieve the ball, retrieve the file, retrieve it from the bin.
It is the standard word in computing for getting stored information: retrieve the record, data retrieval. In gundog work it is the technical term, which is where the retriever breeds get their name. It also means to save a bad situation: retrieve the position, beyond retrieval. Note retriever; and that retrieve suggests going to fetch rather than merely receiving.
1verbretrieveTo go and bring something back.
“The dog ran into the lake to retrieve the stick.”
2verbstoredTo get stored information back.
“They retrieved the whole record from a backup nobody trusted.”
retrieve is a bringing back.
Also accepted in games: fetch, recover
The French behind it is to find again. The dog retrieves: it finds the thing again and brings it back to your hand.
hooks ontofind
Old French retrover meant to find again — the same verb as the modern French retrouver. It came into English as a hunting term for a dog finding lost game, and everything else grew from the kennel.
Proto-Indo-European
*trep-
Vulgar Latin
*tropō — to compose
Middle French
retruev-
English, today
retrieve
Built from
Recorded in Middle English - c. 1410 as retreve (altered to retrive in the 16th century; modern form is from c. 1650), from Middle French retruev-, stem of Old French retrover (“to find again”), itself from re- (“again”) + trover (“to find”), probably from Vulgar Latin tropō (“to compose”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA