REPEL', verb transitive [Latin repello; re and pello, to drive.] 1. to drive back; to force to return; to check advance; as, to repel an enemy or an assailant. Hippomedon repell'd the hostile tide. And virtue may repel though not invade. 2. To resist; to oppose; as, to repel an argument. REPEL', verb intransitive 1. To act with force in opposition to force impressed. Electricity sometimes attracts and sometimes repels. 2. In medicine, to check an afflux to a part of the body.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI