Nowadays, used to comically describe a retreat in online battle games.
However, in the past, many
different forces such as the Mongol Horde, Napoleon's Grande Armee, Rommel's Afrikan Corps, Darius' Immortal Spada and so on...used this tactic to
draw out enemy forces, discourage them from
chase while escaping from enemy strength, divert attention away from other attacks moving forwards and/or to simply remaneuver around the battlefield.