ret

Etymology 1

From Middle English retten, reten; perhaps from Middle Dutch rēten, reeten (compare Middle Low German rōten; Middle High German rōzen), or from Old Norse reyta (compare Norwegian røyta, Swedish röta); all from Proto-Germanic *rautijaną (“to make mellow or soft”), from Proto-Indo-European *rewd- (“to tear; rend; rip”). Related to rot.

verb

1. (transitive) To prepare (flax, hemp etc.) for further processing by soaking, which facilitates separation of fibers from the woody parts of the stem.
   the hemp was retted / and soon the retting was done / and swiftly it was hung up / and hurriedly it was dried […]. 1989, Elias Lönnrot, translated by Keith Bosley, The Kalevala, section XLVIII
   the lowland nearly silent except for water-thrushes, the harvested fields, the smell of hops being dried in kilns, flax pulled up and piled in sheaves, in local practice not to be retted till the spring 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 621

Etymology 2

Abbreviation.

adj

1. retired