Resiles

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To bounce back or return to a form after deformation
2. To regain original shape quickly after being stretched or compressed
3. To recover form promptly following distortion or pressure

Etymology: "Resiles" is the third-person singular form of "resile", so it is simply the verb's present-tense form, and the verb itself traces back to Latin "resiliō", meaning "spring back". That Latin verb combined "re-", meaning "back", with "saliō", meaning "to jump", so the core image is of something leaping back to where it was. The verb reached English through Middle French "resiler", which kept the same sense of rebounding or withdrawing. Its close relative in modern French, "résilier", now means to cancel a contract, a shift that shows how the notion of springing back could be applied to backing out of an agreement.

Synonyms: recoil, spring back