1. rĕ — Lewis & Short
rĕ, or with
I d demonstrative (see the letter D), rĕd (so, too, before vowels and h; also in red-do, and with the union-vowel i in rĕdĭ-vivus. In reicio and often in later Latin re is found before vowels and h; e. g. reaedifico, reexinanio, reinvito, etc. Assimilation of the d before consonants produced the forms relligio, relliquiae, reccido; and the suppression of the d may account for the frequent lengthening of the e by poets in rēduco, rēlatum. The orthography and quantity of words compounded with re are in general somewhat arbitrary, especially in the ante- and post-class. poets). An inseparable particle, whose fundamental signification answers to the Engl. again and against. Thus, it denotes either,
a A turning back ward (Engl. back): recedo, recurro, reicio, remitto, resolvo, etc.; or,
b An opposition: reboo, reclamo, redamo, reluctor, repugno; and,
II Trop.
1 A restoration of a thing to its original condition (e. g. a freeing or loosing from a state of constraint; Engl. re-, un-): redintegro, reficio, restituo, relaxo, relego, resero, recludo, resolvo, retego, etc.—
2 A transition into an opposite state: recharmido, reprobo (opp. comprobo), retracto, revelo.—
3 A repetition of an action: recoquo, resumo, reviso, etc.—
4 It is sometimes intensive, as redundo.