retreat, climb-down; drop; reduction, fall; distance (in time or space); recoil, kick (of firearm); hindsight (understanding of events after they have occurred)
to take a run-up so as to jump farther, to make a strategic retreat, to make a strategic withdrawal so as to come back stronger; to delay the inevitable, to put off the evil day
for an impoverished aristocrat to marry a farmer-general's daughter in order to regain wealth and status; to restore one's image, to restore one's reputation, to regain prestige