withdrawwithdraw

The story

From Middle English withdrawen, withdrauen (‘to depart, leave, move away; (reflexive) to go away; (reflexive) to leave someone’s service; (often reflexive) to draw back or retreat (from a battlefield or dangerous place), withdraw; to abandon, desert; to go, go forth; to move; of the sea, water, etc.: to (cause to) ebb, recede, subside; to disappear; to slacken, wane; (often reflexive) to cease, stop; to desist, refrain; (reflexive) to go back on, recant; to avoid, eschew; to bring under control, contain, suppress; to curb, curtail; to delay, put off; to demur, refuse; to carry or take away, deprive of, remove; to contract, draw away or in, retract; to deny, refuse; to revoke; to withhold; to divert; to separate; to adopt, borrow, imitate’) [and other forms], from with- (prefix meaning ‘away; back’) + drawen, drauen (‘to drag, pull, tow, tug, draw [and other senses]’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (‘to drag, pull; to run’)); see further at with- and draw. The English word is analysable as with- + draw.