recapture

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to capture a person, place, or thing again after it has escaped or been lost

   The guards tried to recapture the escaped prisoner before nightfall.

2. 2
   verb

   to regain or reproduce a former feeling, quality, or experience

   The reunion recaptured some of the warmth of their childhood summers.

3. 3
   noun

   the act of capturing or gaining something again

   Recapture would have meant certain imprisonment for the fugitives.

Formed from re-, 'again or back,' + capture. The literal military and legal sense 'take again' appeared first; the figurative sense 'recover or reproduce a former quality or experience' followed from it.

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