| 释义 |
▪ I. back, n.1|bæk|
Forms: 1–3 bæc, 3–5 bac, 4–6 bak, bakke, (4–5 bake, 6 balke), 5–7 backe, 4– back.
[Common Teut.: OE. bæc (neuter) is cogn. with OS. bak, OFris. bek, MDu. bak, LG. bak, ON. bak.—OTeut. *bako-(m); not found in Gothic or OHG., and now lost in Du. exc. in derivatives, as achterbaks, bakboord. Cf. ridge.]
I. Original sense.
1. properly. The convex surface of the body of man and vertebrated animals which is adjacent to the spinal axis, and opposite to the belly and most of the special organs. It extends from the neck and shoulders to the extremity of the backbone. † back and side: all over, completely (obs.).
c1000Ags. Ps. cxxix. 3 Ofer minum bæce bitere ongunnon þa firenfullan facen timbrian. c1200Ormin 4776 Lende & lesske & shulldre & bac. c1340Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 143 Of bak & of brest al were his bodi sturne. c1400Rom. Rose 7318 Til he be slayne, back & side. c1440Promp. Parv. 21/1 Bakke, Dorsum. c1440Generydes 2155 Ther bakkes and ther belly were soo large. c1485Digby Myst. (1882) i. 340, I shuld bete you bak and side. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 650 A Snake..His Belly spotted, burnisht is his Back. 1711Budgell Spect. No. 161 ⁋7 A Country Fellow that throws his Rival upon his Back. 1741Monro Anat. Bones 187 The..Vertebræ of the Back. 1783–94Blake Song Innoc., Chimney-Sw. 6 Curled like a lamb's back. 1860Dickens Uncomm. Trav. xi. (1866) 72/1 He lies on the broad of his back, with his face turned up to the sky.
2. Viewed in reference to its position or functions, as:
a. in man, the hinder surface of the body, that which is opposite to the front or face, and which is turned upon those who are left behind. (Hence many phrases: see VI.)
c885K. ælfred Boeth. ii, Ða wendon hí me heora bæc. 1382Wyclif Jer. xviii. 17 Bac and not face Y shal shewe to them. c1500Robin Hood (Ritson) xv. 121 And there they turnd them back to back. a1552Leland in Keightley Hist. Eng. I. 429 Her faire yelow haire hung down pleyne byhynd her bak. 1597Daniel Civ. Wares ii. x, Richard who lookt Fortune in the backe. 1607Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 397 Thy backe I prythee. 1611― Cymb. v. iii. 6 The Army broken, And but the backes of Britaines seen. 1873Tristram Moab ii. 19 At length we..turn our backs on the outskirts of civilization.
b. that part of the body which is the special recipient of clothing (as the belly is of food); often put for the whole body in this capacity.
Orig. because simple articles of clothing cover the back completely, but are either open, or merely fastened in front.
a1300Cursor M. 5130 Clathing bath for bac and bedd. c1375Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. 1869 I. 298 Cloþing boþ for her bedde and bak. 1549Latimer Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 51 Borrow of thy two next neighbours, that is to say, of thy backe and thi belly. 1597J. Payne Royal Exch. 14 Suche..as come to decaye..by the pryde of there backs. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. ii. 23 What 'tis to cram a maw, or cloath a backe. 1840R. Dana Bef. the Mast xix. 53 Without clothing to his back or shoes to his feet. 1862Trollope Orley F. I. 83 (Hoppe) It is from the backs and bellies of other people that savings are made with the greatest constancy.
c. the part of the body which bears burdens.
c950Lindisf. G. Matt. xxiii. 4 Hia ᵹebindas..byrðenna hefiᵹa..in scyldrum vel bæccum monna. a1300Cursor M. 3048 Hir sun a-pon hir bak sco bar. c1384Chaucer H. Fame 169 And tooke his fader Anchises And bare hym on hys bakke avay. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. iv. iii. 48 Wrung with wrongs more then our backe can beare. 1613― Hen. VIII, i. ii. 50 The Backe is Sacrifice to th' load. Mod. The back is fitted for the burden.
d. in animals, the upper surface opposite to that on which they walk, crawl, or rest: extended from vertebrates to other walking or creeping animals.
1383Sir Ferumb. 794 Tak my gode stede..Set me be-for þe on is bak. c1500Sir Lancelott 39 in Furniv. Percy Folio I. 86 They horsses bakes brake vnder them. 1647Ward Simp. Cobler 36 They might have kept his back..had they not put him beyond his pace. 1735Somerville Chase i. 376 High on their bent Backs erect Their pointed Bristles stare. 1847Carpenter Zool. §574 The lower side (of Flat-fish) is generally white, whilst the upper is brown; and the former is commonly (but erroneously) regarded as the belly of the fish, and the latter as its back. Ibid. §723 The insects of this family swim on their backs.
II. transf. The surface of things analogous in position to the (human) back; the hinder side.
3. a. gen. That side or surface of any part of the body or of any object, which answers in position to the back; that opposite to the face or front, or side approached, contemplated, or exposed to view; e.g. the back of the head, of the leg; the back of a house, door, picture, bill, tablet, etc. back-to-back: advb. phr. used attrib., spec. (i) of houses; also ellipt. as n.; (ii) of an aerial system or display used in radar (see quot. 1948); (iii) of a type of combination fireplace (see quots.); (iv) chiefly U.S., of events: following one upon another without a break, consecutive; also transf., full, crowded.
1626Bacon Sylva (J.) Trees set upon the backs of chimnies do ripen fruit sooner. 1777Sheridan Sch. Scandal ii. ii, He put his name at the back of a bill. 1850Lytton My Novel iii. xiii. 138 At the back of the cottage..there are some fields. c1850Rudim. Nav. (Weale) 94 Back of the post, the after-face of the stern-post. 1880L. Stephen Pope iv. 92 A great part of the Iliad [Pope's] is written upon the backs of letters. a1885Mod. Severely hurt about the back of the head.
1845L. Playfair Rep. on State of Large Towns in Lancs. 35 Back-to-back houses cannot be considered dwellings of proper construction. 1883Pall Mall G. 12 Dec. 2, 11,000 ‘back-to-back’ houses in the older parts. 1901B. Seebohm Rowntree Poverty vi. 153 Back-to-back houses in which through ventilation is impossible. 1940‘M. Innes’ There came both Mist & Snow xix. 202 Back-to-backs are monotonous.
1948Taylor & Westcott Princ. Radar v. 79 In..air⁓borne radars operating on the metre wave-lengths, the back-to-back display..is used. The ‘split’ signals are then displayed on either side of the trace and equality results in the trace bisecting the signal line. Ibid. 80 (caption) Back-to-back display..used with metric radars. 1961Flight LXXX. 926/1 One of the latest Marconi long-range surveillance radars is the Type S.247, comprising two high-power (2½–3 MW) transmitters..feeding a combined back-to-back aerial system.
1951Good Housek. Home Encycl. 263/2 Back-to-back Grates, in this variant of the combination range..the open fire is placed in the sitting-room and the cooking range at the back, in the kitchen. 1955D. Chapman Home & Social Status 54 The other living-room usually has a ‘back-to-back’ combination fireplace ‘shared’ with the kitchen.
1952N.Y. Times 24 Aug. s1/8 Back to back doubles by Gene Woodling and Joe Collins off Early Wynn in the fourth inning produced the only tally of the day. 1968Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 24 Sept. (1970) 709 Today was one of those full, back-to-back Washington days. 1974Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) 27 Oct. 1-c/4 Because he is an aggressive skater, his effectiveness would be limited in back-to-back games. 1978Sunday Times 5 Mar. 18/4 Not that British workers like the night shift... They explain their acceptance of it by pointing out the social barriers to back-to-back shift working. 1984Tampa (Florida) Tribune 5 Apr. 10c/2 The same teams and players met on back-to-back weeks.
b. Used ellipt., e.g. in one-, two-, three-pair back, a room at the back of a house on the first, second, third floor. (Cf. front n. 11.)
1836[see two-pair s.v. two IV. 2]. 1838,1883[see three-pair a.]. 1873J. H. Beadle Undevel. West xiii. 233 City pastorals, written in a third story back, by men reared in the city. 1902H. James Wings of Dove v. xii. 196 The commodious, ‘handsome’ room, far back in the fine old house..the rich dusk of a London ‘back’.
c. to talk out of or through the back of one's neck: see neck n.1
4. spec.
a. The convex or outer side of the hand, opposite to the palm. Colloq. phrases: the back of my hand to (something or somebody), a phrase implying contempt and rejection (Sc. and Irish dial.); to know (something) like the back of one's hand: to be thoroughly familiar or conversant with.
b. The under side of a leaf, which forms the outside before it unfolds.
c. The convex part of a book, opposite to the opening of the leaves.
d. The thick edge of a knife or other cutting instrument, opposite to the face, or cutting edge. Hence back and edge: everything, through everything, through thick and thin.
a1300W. de Biblesworth in Wright Voc. 147 The bac of the hand, la claye dehoris. c1440Promp. Parv. 21/2 Bakke of egge toole, Ebiculum. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §136 A graffynge knyfe an inche brode with a thycke backe. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. i. ii. 221 Being offer'd him, he put it by with the backe of his hand, thus. 1641J. Hotham (in Long Parlt.) in Southey Commonpl. Bk. Ser. ii. (1849) 147 ‘Mr. Speaker; fall back, fall edge, I will go down and perform your commands.’ 1716A. Behn Dutch Lover ii. iii, I'll have no more to do with you back nor edge. 1768A. Ross Fort. Shepherdesses 131 The back o' my hand to the spinning o 't. 1789Lightfoot Fl. Scot. II. 671 Fructifications in two rows upon the back of the pinnules. 1831S. Lover Leg. & Stories of Ireland 147 The back o' my hand and the sowl o' my fut to you. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xii. (C.D.) 137 As he drew the back of his hand across his lips. 1863Bookseller's Catal., Fine copy, calf extra, full gilt backs, marbled edges. a1885Mod. The back of the leaf is lighter in colour. 1914Joyce Dubliners xiv. 199 ‘And have you nothing for me, duckie?’ ‘O, you! The back of my hand to you!’ said Mrs Kernan tartly. 1943M. Millar Wall of Eyes 154, I know him as well as I know the back of my hand. 1944‘M. Innes’ Weight of Evidence x. 107, I know that book like the back of my hand. 1956M. Stewart Wildfire at Midnight i. 17, I know the district like the back of my hand. 1968‘C. Aird’ Henrietta Who? x. 97, I know that photograph like the back of my hand.
5. a. The side of any object away from the spectator, or spectators generally, the other or farther side. at the back of: behind, on the farther side of; cf. 23.
c1645Howell Lett. (1650) II. 19 Turning by the back of Afric to the Cape of Mozambric. 1696Lond. Gaz. No. 3242/3 Yesterday appeared on the back of these Sands a Fleet. 1704Ibid. No. 4060/5 Passing by the back of the Goodwin Sand. 1865Tyndall Fragm. Sc. viii. §4. 181 A plate of copper against the back of which a steady sheet of flame is permitted to play.
b. Short for back blocks, back country.
1897D. McK. Wright Station Ballads 57, I went poisoning out at the back. a1922C. G. Turner Happy Wanderer 146 These trips from ‘the Back’ to the town in August are stern affairs. 1932R. A. K. Mason in Phoenix (N.Z.) I. ii. 9 [He] came out on the ‘back’, as they called the main body of the sheep-run. 1949P. Newton High Country Days v. 48 An occasional trip out to the ‘back’ to pack firewood to those of the camp sites which had no bush within easy reach.
c. pl. (Also with capital initial.) The gardens behind colleges bordering on the river Cam at Cambridge.
1871London Society XIX. 40/2 Cambridge University Life... You wander through those lovely ‘backs’ of colleges, which might almost be carpeted with poetry. 1882A. G. Hill Tourist's Guide Cambr. 31 Some of the most charming ‘bits’ in England are to be seen in spring-time at the ‘backs’ of the colleges, where the narrow part of the Cam winds behind S. John's, Trinity, King's, Catherine's, and Queen's colleges. 1925W. Deeping Sorrell & Son xviii. 170 Sorrell and Kit made their way through Nevil's Court and across the river to the ‘backs’.
†6. Of time: The other side of, the time after. Obs. or dial.
1673Flamsteed in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men II. 162, I must be..your debtor till the back of Whitsuntide.
III. Parts of things having relation, or analogous in position, to the human back; the hinder part, rear, following.
†7. pl. Clothes. Obs.
1341Mem. Ripon (1882) I. 224 Unum indumentum quod dicitur Bak. c1350Will. Palerne 2096 Alle his bakkes rente. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 362 Owre bakkes [gloss panni] þat moth-eten be. c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 328 A bak to walken in by day light. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xiv. 72 Fynde beggars bred, backes for þe colde.
†8.
a. Armour protecting the back; a back-plate.
1648in Rushworth Hist. Coll. iv. II. 1411 He saw the King..in Naseby field having Back and Breast on. 1651Cromwell Lett. (Carl.) 26 July, It is desired we may have a thousand backs-and-breasts, and fifteen-hundred pots. 1695Blackmore Pr. Arth. vii. 137 Some o'er brazen Backs, and Breastplates sweat.
b. fig. A defence, protection.
1686W. de Britaine Hum. Prud. vi. 29 Your own Innocency will be a Back of Steel unto you.
9. The hind part of a coat or other garment.
Mod. What is the material of the back of the vest?
10. The upright hind part of a chair, that supports the back of the sitter; and gen. the hinder portion of any structure.
1530Palsgr. 196/1 Backe of a chymney, contre cuevr de la chyminee. 1670G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. iii. 78 To sit down..upon a chair without a back. 1716–8Lady Montague Lett. I. x. 34 The archduchesses sat on chairs with backs without arms. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 520 The back of the chimney did not seem to be firmly fixed.
11. The rear of an armed force. arch.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. iii. 79 He leaues his backe vnarm'd. 1737Whiston Josephus' Antiq. xii. viii. §3 And fell upon the backs of their enemies.
†12. A following; a body of followers or supporters; support, backing. Obs.
1566Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 89 Without knowledge of any back or battell to follow. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xvi. (1632) 861 Scotland..was a special backe and second to King Henry. 1649Bp. Guthry Mem. (1702) 24 Those that were otherwise minded, would have stay'd with a thin Back. a1662Baillie Lett. (1775) I. 217 (Jam.) So Mr. Pym and his back were removed.
IV. Surfaces or parts of things analogous to the back of animals.
13. fig. The surface of a river, the waves, etc., which bears floating burdens. (Cf. bosom.)
1610Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 115, I saw him beate the surges vnder him, And ride vpon their backes. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 555 Swift Rivers are with sudden Ice constrain'd; And studded Wheels are on its Back sustain'd. 1850Clough Dipsychus i. v. 107 We'll take the crested billows by their backs And shake them.
14. The ridge of a hill, of the nose (obs.).
1615Crooke Body of Man 613 The vpper part of the Nose called Dorsum or the backe..the spine or ridge of the Nose. 1863Hawthorne Old Home (1879) 169 We now rambled about on the broad back of the hill.
15. The convex surface of any thing bent.
c1850Rudim. Nav. (Weale) 96 Compass or curved timber, the outside of which is called the Back.
16. Arch. The upper surface or edge of any horizontal or oblique beam.
1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 156 Back or Hip-molding. The backward Hips or Valley-Rafters in the way of an Angle. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Back of a hip, among builders, denotes the two planes on the outside of the hip, lying parallel with the adjoining side and end of the roof.
17. The keel and kelson of a ship.
[1541R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Cyrurg., The backe is lyke y⊇ kele of a shyp.] 1692Lond. Gaz. No. 2779/3 A French Ship of 70 Guns..has broke her back. 1883Contemp. Rev. Aug. 229 A stranded ship with her back broken.
V. Technical uses. (transf., fig., and ellipt.)
18. Leather trade. The thickest and best-tanned hides.
1535Act 27 Hen. VIII, xiv. §5 Any lether called backes or sole lether. 1776Excise-bk. in Dorset County Chron. 2 June (1881) Kinds of hides:—Sheep and lamb, butts and backs, calves and kipps. 1859Worcester cites Crabb.
19. Mining. (See quots.)
1807J. Headrick Arran 45 Similar cracks are formed in stratified sandstone, called by the workmen, slips, cutters or backs. 1851Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durham 4 Back.—A diagonal parting in coal; a description of hitch, where the strata are not dislocated. 1875Ure Dict. Arts I. 280 Back in mining, that side of an inclined mineral lode which is nearest the surface of the ground. The back of a level is the ground between it and the level above.
20. Jewellery. (See quot.)
1879C. Hibbs in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 349/2 ‘Back’ which in Jewellers' parlance means either the top or bottom side of the locket.
21. Football. One of the players stationed behind the ‘forwards,’ e.g. ‘half-back,’ ‘three-quarter back’; the duty of the simple ‘back’ is to defend the goal. Also in other games.
1880Daily Tel. 20 Dec., One of the Northern three-quarter backs sustained an injury to his leg. 1884Punch 8 March 113/1 To go into this fine manly game [of football] padded..is enough to rouse the ire of any old ‘back’ alive. 1910Encycl. Brit. XIII. 555/1 (Hockey) RB, Right Back. LB, Left Back. 1920E. H. Green Hockey i. 1 The goal-keeper and backs require a heavier stick usually than a half back or a forward. 1968Sunday Times 17 Mar. 24/6 Their backs hit a succession of long passes for Hennessey and his wings to chase.
22. Sporting. The action of ‘backing’: see back v. 9.
1859‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports 35 While his [the dog's] ‘point’ was perfection in beauty and rigidity, the ‘back’ was totally the reverse.
VI. Phrases. (Chiefly from 2 a, also 2 c.)
23. With prepositions:
a. at the back of: behind, close behind; with the pregnant senses of supporting, following, pursuing, chasing; cf. 5. at the back of one's mind (rarely head): in the underlying or remote part of one's mind.
b. behind the back of: (emphatic for) behind; in the absence of, out of the sight, hearing, or knowledge of; behind backs, clandestinely. (See also behind prep. 9.)
c. † on back (rarely of back), upon back (obs.): aback, back, backward.
d. on, upon the back of: weighing upon as a burden or incubus; falling upon as an assailant. Also colloq., harassing, annoying. So get off my back: stop harassing or annoying me.
e. on, upon the back (of): (position) behind, in the rear (obs.): (motion) close behind.
f. to the back: to the back-bone, all through.
g. in back of = back of (see back adv. 15). U.S.
a.c1400Destr. Troy v. 1902 Hade bir at his bake, and þe bankes leuyt. c1430Lydg. Bochas i. i. (1544) 2 b, At their backe, folowed indigence. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccxxxiii. 324 To thentent that they might haue wynter at their backes. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. v. 133 Edward and Richard, like a brace of Grey-hounds..Are at our backes. 1597― 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 334 You knew I was at your back, and spoke it on purpose. 1818Byron Juan i. cxxxvii, Here's my master With more than half the city at his back. 1879Froude Cæsar xii. 166 Cæsar had the people at his back. 1895G. du Maurier in Idler Dec. 420/2 Trilby, as a name, must have been lying perdu somewhere, as they say, ‘at the back of my head’, as important things so often do. 1903E. Childers Riddle of Sands xxi. 226 At the back of such mind as was left me lodged the insistent thought: ‘we must hurry on’. 1910S. Reynolds Alongshore i. 5 The deep ground-rumble of London..makes one feel continually, at the back of one's mind, the presence of the great city all around. 1930‘J. J. Connington’ 2 Tickets Puzzle v. 61 With this at the back of his mind..he had volunteered to carry the news.
b.c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 281 Þou puttest þi self bi⁓hinde þi bake. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iv. i. 28 It will be of more price, Being spoke behind your backe, then to your face. 1711Addison Spect. No. 12 ⁋2 The Mistress..scolds at the Servants as heartily before my Face as behind my Back. 1874Mahaffy Soc. Life Greece iii. 50 They will censure her behind backs. 1883Statist 21 July, While they were maturing their scheme, the Government went behind their backs and concluded an agreement.
c.c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. iv. 10 Gang þu on bæc! c1400Destr. Troy xiv. 5957 The batell on backe was borne to þe se. Ibid. xv. 6520 And frusshet þere fos fer vppo backe. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys 59 She nevr of bak turnyde hyr vysayge.
d.1605Shakes. Lear i. iv. 42, I haue yeares on my backe forty eight. 1677Gilpin Dæmonol. (1867) 45 No sooner obtains he a commission against a child of God, but presently he is upon his back. 1776Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) I. 100 We shall have all the powers of Europe on our backs. 1832H. Martineau Ireland vii. 118 Rather too much to have another [priest]..on their backs. 1880W. H. Patterson Gloss. Antrim. & Down 4 ‘I'm never off his back,’ i.e. I'm always watching and correcting him. 1889‘Mark Twain’ Yankee at Court of Arthur x. 100, I should have had the Established Roman Catholic Church on my back in a minute. 1945Baker Austral. Lang. viii. 157 They're on your back, they (usually officers) are overworking you, demanding too much. 1956A. Miller Memory of 2 Mondays in Coll. Plays (1958) 349 So I buy a car, and they're all on my back—how'd I dare buy a car! 1959J. Cary Captive & Free xxxiv. 146 Well, I didn't want to get into trouble and I didn't want to have him on my back either. 1961J. Heller Catch-22 (1962) xl. 414 Then stop picking on me, will you? Get off my back, will you? 1968P. Marlowe Hire me a Hearse ix. 120 If you had tried, Wilma would have phoned Peregrine Porter and told him to get you off her back.
e.1605in Camden's Rem. (1637) 195 On the backe, they make men seeme women. 1658Ussher Ann. vi. 437 Upon the back of these came a thousand. 1663Bp. Patrick Parab. Pilgr., As soon as they had the house on their backs and were come into the open air. 1734Col. Records Penn. III. 564 Several of the Inhabitants on the back of our Mountains. 1783Burke Sp. E. India Bill Wks. 1842 I. 293 Another reform has since come upon the back of the first. Mod. The child took the measles, and then on the back of that came scarlatina.
f.1588Shakes. Tit. A. iv. iii. 47 Mettall Marcus, steele to the very backe. 1705Hickeringill Priest-Cr. ii. vi. 57 Like little Laud, Mettle to the Back.
g.1914‘Mark Twain’ What is Man? (1917) 165 The picture represents a burning martyr..in back of the smoke. 1925G. P. Krapp Eng. Lang. in Amer. I. 77 Back of..has a variant form in back of, which completes the analogy to in front of. 1952F. Bowers in Papers Bibliogr. Soc. Amer. XLVI. 194 This pure form of analytical bibliography lies in back of and leads directly into two other divisions. 1958J. Kerouac On Road i. xiii. 102, I was spreading mustard on my lap in back of a parking-lot john.
24. With verbs:
a. to break the back of: (fig.) to overburden, crush; to finish the hardest part of (a task).
b. to get the back of: to get behind, take in the rear.
†c. to give back (obs.): to retreat, turn tail, run away.
d. to give one the back: to turn away from, disregard him.
e. to give or make a back (at leap-frog, etc.): to bend the body so as to present a surface which may be jumped over.
f. to put or set up the back: to arch it as angry cats do; to put oneself or another into anger; to arouse.
g. to turn the back: to turn away from facing, go away, flee; to turn the back upon: to turn definitely from, abandon, forsake. h. to put one's back into, to employ the whole strength of one's back in (rowing, lifting, hauling, etc.). Also fig.
a.1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, i. i. 84 Many Haue broke their backes with laying Mannors on 'em For this great Iourney. 1873Baily's Mag. XXIV. 45 Between them they broke the back of the Eton bowling. 1883E. G. Holtham Eight Years in Japan vii. 151 That I had better stick to my onward route, at any rate till I had ‘broken the back’ of the journey overland to Kiyōto. 1890Kipling Life's Handicap (1891) I. 48 Your flanks are unprotected for two miles. I think we've broken the back of this division. 1901Westm. Gaz. 9 Mar. 4/1 The back of the fire was broken at noon. 1911H. S. Harrison Queed iv. 40 The very next day, the back of the morning's mail being broken, [etc.]. 1965R. M. Erskine Passion Flowers in Business viii. 97 ‘Your labours..must be nearing completion.’ ‘I've broken the back of it, oh yes!’
b.1653Holcroft Procopius, John..compassed the Trachea, so that he got the Backes of the Enemy.
c.a1300Cursor M. 2499 Þe fiue gaue bak to wine a-way. Ibid. 4390 He drou, sco held, þe tassel brak, Þe mantel left, he gafe þe bak. c1400Destr. Troy xxiii. 9474 Þai were boun to gyffe bake, & the bent leue. 1533Bellendene Livy i. (1822) 50 Dredand..to be inclusit on every side..thay gaif bakkis. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. v. iv. 126 Thurio giue backe, or else embrace thy death. 1661R. Davenport City Nt.-Cap v. in Dodsl. (1780) XI. 358 Catch'd at thy word, thou giv'st back. 1783Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell) s.v. Back, To give back, Pedem referre.
d.a1624Bp. M. Smyth Serm. (1632) 24 They gaue him the back, and became apostates. 1682Bunyan Holy War 236 Emmanuel, their Prince, has given them the back.
e.1836Dickens Pickw. vii. 57 Stooping..as if he were ‘making a back’ for some beginner at leap-frog. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair III. 13 (Hoppe) The Major was giving a back to Georgy.
f.1728Vanbr. & Cibber Prov. Husb. v. iii. 112 O Lud! how her back will be up then, when she meets me. 1845Disraeli Sybil (1863) 14 But the other great whig families..set up their backs against this claim of the Egremonts. 1864Sunday Mag. I. 79 He goes his own way..if you put his back up. c1870H. Spofford Pilot's W. in Casquet Lit. (1877) IV. 9/1 The..cat used to put up her back at the three.
g.c1400Destr. Troy iv. 1348 The Troiens..turnyt þe bake, ffleddon in fere. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. i. 130 The shame Of those that turn'd their backes. 1605― Lear i. i. 178 To turne thy hated backe Vpon our kingdome. 1611Bible 1 Sam. x. 9 When he had turned his backe to go from Samuel. c1680Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 99 If you turn your backs and refuse to..hearken. 1711Addison Spect. No. 108 ⁋4 Sir Roger's Back was no sooner turned but honest Will began. 1866G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xxx. (1878) 522, I never turned my back on my leader yet.
h.1882Stevenson New Arab. Nts. (1884) 301 They put their back into their work, they sang loud and louder. 1885Rider Haggard K. Solomon's Mines xviii. 291 Tackle on, and put your back into it; you are as strong as two. 1889A. Conan Doyle Micah Clarke iv. 28 Pull, Micah! Put your back into it! 1952M. Laski Village i. 21 You can get it done in half the time if you only put your back into it.
25. complex.
a. to be or lie on one's back: to be laid up, to be afflicted; also, fig. to be prostrate, helpless; to lay any one on his back, to prostrate, floor, lay low.
†b. to have by the back: to lay hold of, seize.
†c. to take the back upon oneself: to flee.
d. with or having one's back at or to the wall: hard-pressed, struggling against odds.
a.1655W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. v. (1669) 343/1 They never look up to Heaven, till God lays them on their back. 1840Dana Bef. Mast (1854) xxviii. 177 He confessed the whole matter; acknowledged that he was on his back. 1841Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) II. xlv. 80 Sick and very feeble, having been for several weeks upon my back. 1904McClure's Mag. Feb. 366/1 The employers of San Francisco are flat on their backs..; when a labor leader makes a demand we give in without a word. 1938New Statesman 21 May 863/2 ‘Speciality selling’..is the last refuge of the man who is ‘on his back’.
b.a1555Ridley Wks. 67 Else thou must be had by the back. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. 146 Then brother I haue you by the backe.
c.c1500Lancelot 1488 It haith gart o thousand tak At onys apone them-self the bak.
d.1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 73 That we may haif thair bakis at the wall, Without defend that ar oure commoun fa. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. 536, I ill liked to see him with his back to the wall.
Add:[VI.] [23.] [g.] Also in back, in or at the back (N. Amer. colloq.); cf. in (the) front s.v. front n. (and a.) 10 a.
1961Northwest Rev. IV. 54 ‘In back, buddy,’ the driver said to me. 1974R. M. Pirsig Zen & Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ii. viii. 104 He's got to close a deal out in back on some Harley parts. I go with him out in a shed in back and see he is selling a whole Harley machine in used parts. 1987New Yorker 5 Jan. 39/1 In front of the house was a small lawn.., and in back were another lawn, a small garden, and a garage.
▸ Photogr. A removable rear part of a camera body, originally housing the photographic plate and now containing equipment which alters or enhances the camera's functionality. Freq. with modifying word.
repeating back, swing-back: see the first element. See also databack n.
1858Times 24 June 3/1 (advt.) Wanted to purchase, a good camera..with a swing back. 1896Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 25 79 The camera, double backs, lenses, &c., will be in a solid leather case. 1927Amateur Photographer 29 June (Suppl.) 12/1 (advt.), 31/4 × 21/4 Regular Ensign Roll Film with Plate Back. 1957Science 22 Feb. 330 (advt.) Interchangeable backs for 35mm-120 Roll Film-31/4 × 41/4{pp} -4 × 5{pp} Polaroid. 1990Brit. Jrnl. Photogr. 19 July 5/2 In the..burglary, equipment stolen included: a Pentax 645 camera, lenses, and backs. 2002Petersen's Photogr. Nov. 19/1 Some are offering high-resolution digital backs for their camera bodies, while others are releasing new digital cameras.
▸ colloq. (orig. U.S.). a. to watch one's back: to be on one's guard; to be alert to a possible (physical) threat to oneself (sometimes literally an attack from behind). Freq. in imper. as a warning or threat.
1949L. Floren Milk River Range xix. 203 They're after you, too. Watch your back, Tortilla. I don't trust this Jesse Smith one inch. 1979Washington Post (Nexis) 3 Jan. c1 You wouldn't have to be watching your back all the time and afraid to go out after dark. 1991R. S. Jones Force of Gravity (1992) iii. i. 258 He walked more nervously than ever, like a snitch, always watching his back. 1996Rolling Stone 4 Apr. 24/2 We had to watch our backs.., never knowing when somebody might do a drive-by. 2002T. Lee et al. Mötley Crüe vii. 178, I know where you park your car! I know where you live! You better watch your back!
b. to watch a person's back: to protect or guard a person against potential attack (sometimes literally from behind); (also) to support or assist a person.
1974‘J. le Carré’ Tinker, Tailor xvii. 145 Clear a foreign letter box, prime a safe house, watch someone's back, spike an embassy. 1986M. Hartland Third Betrayal ii. 20, I imagine you'll take someone to watch your back. 1991News Jrnl. (Wilmington, Delaware) 15 Aug. d1/3 They opened [a restaurant] in January 1989... Eric promised he'd hang around for a year ‘to watch my back,’ Chuck said. 2002W. Rhode Paperback Raita (2003) 365, I need you to watch my back. I think Dowdy wants me out of the picture.
▸ N. Amer. colloq. (orig. in African-American usage). to get (also have) a person's back: = to watch a person's back.
1975J. De Jongh Hail, hail, Gangs! (Electronic ed.) 6 Two of them and one of you, but I got your back. Kick both of them in the ass. 1985Washington Post 29 Mar. e5/3 Don't worry, Coach, I've got your back. 1996J. Díaz Drown 209 My family had my back for years. 2001National Post (Toronto) 4 Apr. b12/5 The league's got his back now, but the league can't have his back all the time.
▪ II. back, n.2|bæk|
[prob. immediately a. Du. bak trough, tub, a. F. bac ‘ferry boat, punt’ (see bac), also ‘trough, basin, mash-tub,’ in med.L. bacus, baccus, ferry boat (11th c. in Du Cange); cf. also late L. bacca ‘vas aquarium,’ Isidore; remoter origin uncertain.]
A large shallow vessel (chiefly for liquids); a tub, trough, vat, cistern; esp. applied to those used by brewers, dyers, and picklers.
1682Lond. Gaz. No. 1684/4 To be Sold, six Backs, several Stills and Worms. 1737Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Anil, Backs or Vats of Stone-work, well cemented. 1791Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing I. i. ii. ii. 159 Long copper or wooden vessels, called troughs or backs. 1794G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Phil. I. xi. 483 The gaseous atmosphere of a back of beer in fermentation. 1811Mem. R. Cecil Introd. 8 His father had in this ground several large backs of water. 1818Scott Rob Roy (1818) III. 13 (Jam.) Narrowly escaping breaking my shins over a turf back and a salting tub.
▪ III. back, a.|bæk|
[partly attributive use of back n.1 as in back wall = wall at the back; partly elliptical use of back adv., as in back rent (cf. ‘to be back with his rent’), back years (cf. ‘for years back’); by no means distinctly separated from back- in comb.; cf. senses 1 and 2, with back-, 4, 5.]
I. From the n.
1. Situated behind or in the rear, or away from the front. back row: of a chorus, line of dancers, etc.; in Rugby Football, the last line of forwards in a scrummage. Hence,
a. sometimes with the inferred sense of ‘distant, outlying, remote,’ as in back country, back settlement. Also back area: a region behind a field of operations (esp. Mil.).
b. often with that of ‘inferior, mean, obscure,’ as in back alley, back lane, back road, back slum, back street.
c1490Adam Bel 121 in Ritson Anc. P.P. 10 William opened hys backe wyndow That was in hys chambre on hye. 1535Coverdale Ex. xxxiii. 23 Thou shalt se my back partes, but my face shal not be sene. 1583Golding Calvin on Deut. 58 When there is still some backe nooke behinde. 1683Ray Corr. (1848) 134 A small flat back claw, or toe. 1703Lond. Gaz. No. 3885/4 Lost..out of a back Shead, 4 peices of Crape. 1806W. Taylor Ann. Rev. IV. 886 The Ohio should..have been made the back line of boundary. 1850Thackeray Pendennis vii. (1884) 65 A little morocco box, which..contained the Major's back teeth. 1870Lowell Study Wind. 3 A stilted plover with no back toe. a1885Mod. The occupants of the back seats. 1887Lippincott's Mag. Sept. 421 We..sot an' spit at each other, like two tom-cats on a back fence. 1894W. S. Gilbert Foggerty's Fairy iii. p. 71, I should be at once relegated to the back rows [in a ballet], among the stout ones. 1897Encycl. Sport I. 408/1 The wheel is made on the most favourable side by the back row bringing the ball round to the front. 1906Gallaher & Stead Complete Rugby Footballer vii. 100 Advantages of the New Zealand system... Two fast men in the back row [of the scrum]. Ibid. 105 In the back row of the scrum we [sc. New Zealanders] put two of the fastest forwards and two of the best collarers that we can find. Ibid. 106 The side-row men press on the hookers, and the back-row men push against the lock. 1912Mrs. Woodrow Sally Salt 24 She could really have believed that she could transform me from an eager back-fence prowler. 1949R. K. Merton in Lazarsfeld & Stanton Communications Research, 1948–9 ii. 206 Walter Winchell, who reports the Broadway version of intimate gossip across the backfence. 1952Granville Dict. Theatr. Terms 21 She came from the back row of the chorus, said of an actress who has risen the hard way, from the smallest beginnings. 1959Times 30 Nov. 3/7 The Swansea back-row gave Croker and Fitch room to move.
a.1681,1783[see back-land 2]. 1759Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 III. 420 To fall on the back settlements of Pennsylvania. 1798Malthus Popul. (1817) I. 7 In the back settlements, where the sole employment is agriculture. 1923Kipling Irish Guards in Gt. War I. p. vii, The farthest back-areas where the enemy aeroplanes harried their camps. 1937Times 25 Oct. 13/4 It [sc. a speech] called shame on the back-area workers who shirked extra hours and thereby helped the enemy. 1940E. C. Shepherd Britain's Air Power 6 The bomber..might have to travel only 50 miles from our own lines in France to the back areas of the German Army to bomb dumps. 1956Planning XXII. 59 Land that has been left derelict for many years with top soil destroyed exists as a consolidated mass of weed-covered uneven land... Such areas, often referred to as ‘back-areas’, have to be bulldozed and scraped level.
b.c1450in M.E.D., Backe strete. 1542Backe lane [see meet v. 11 b]. 1613L. Bayly Pract. Piety (ed. 3) 652 Seeke out these in the backe Lanes, and relieve them. 1638in Records Early Hist. Boston (1878) III. 6 One acre and haulfe..butting south west upon the back streete. 1708Boston News-Let. 22–29 Mar. 2/2 There is a..dwelling house to be lett in the back-street. 1764J. Kirby Suffolk Traveller (ed. 2) 280 The Back-Road from Woodbridge to Blithborough by Snape Bridge. 1842Times 12 Sept. 6/2 The city police..desert the back lanes. 1847F. A. Kemble Let. 16 Dec. in Records Later Life (1882) III. 317 Walking up a small back street..I saw a little child..standing at a poor mean kind of pastry-cook's window. 1860Dickens Uncomm. Trav. x. (1866) 67/2 A back street in the neighbourhood of Walworth. 1865Athenæum 28 Jan. 124/1 Imprisoned in the back slums of Westminster. 1865Mrs. Stowe House & Home Papers ii. 22 A little dingy den, with a window looking out on a back-alley. 1887Century Mag. July 331 The road is what is called a ‘back road’, and leads through woods most of the way. 1894‘Mark Twain’ P. Wilson xvii. 177 He said they were back-alley barbers disguised as nobilities. 1898Westm. Gaz. 6 Apr. 9/3 It was indeed remarkable what a knowledge these back-street children had of flowers. 1920W. Stevens Let. 2 Dec. (1967) 220 The bouquet in this month's Poetry will drive me to back alleys. 1934E. Blunden Mind's Eye iii. 167 A back-alley cinema. 1957J. L. Hodson in ‘C. H. Rolph’ Human Sum x. 192 The woman..who goes to the back⁓street abortionist.
¶ In this sense formerly compared backer, backermost, backmost. Only the last is now in ordinary use.
c. Phonetics. Of a sound: formed by restriction of the oral passage at the back of the mouth; formed by the back or root of the tongue. Also Comb., as back-lateral adj.
1867A. M. Bell Visible Sp. 61 The ‘shut’ consonants are sufficiently distinguished..by the four radical varieties ‘Back’, ‘Front’, ‘Point’, ‘Lip’. Ibid. 72 The vowels..are divided into three classes of palato-lingual formations, according as the oral cavity is moulded mainly by the ‘Back’, the ‘Front’, or the ‘Mixed’ (Back and Front) attitudes of the tongue. The ‘Back’ vowels have the largest oral cavities. 1877Sweet Handbk. Phonetics 11 ‘Back’ (guttural) vowels, in which the tongue is retracted as much as possible. Ibid. 31 By place there are five main classes [of consonants]. (1) Back (guttural) formed by the root of the tongue and the soft palate..(2) Front (palatal)..(3) Point..(4) Teeth..(5) Lip. 1910Mod. Lang. Rev. V. 91 A back-modified glide or murmur vowel develops between a long vowel and a back-lateral. 1962A. C. Gimson Introd. Pronunc. Eng. iv. 41 Naming those vowels..in which the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate back vowels.
d. Phonology. back mutation [mutation 4 b], in Old English, a change in the sound of the vowels æ, e, i, which were diphthongized to ea (= æa), eo, io, when a back vowel stood in the following syllable.
1914H. C. Wyld Short Hist. Eng. v. 74 Back-, or u-Mutation. All the O.E. dialects are to some extent subject to this change, which consists in diphthonging i, e, and in Mercian æ, when u, or o (from earlier -an) followed in the next syllable, e.g. *heƀun becomes heofon. 1927E. V. Gordon Introd. O. Norse 254 The OE. equivalent of ON. fracture is the so-called back mutation. 1953L. F. Brosnahan Some O.E. Sound Changes 89 The phenomenon of back-mutation is based on the same process of regressive influence of one vowel on another, but the nature and effect of the influence in this case is different from that in i-mutation.
2. Used to distinguish that one of two things (or sets of things) which lies behind the main or front one, and is more or less subsidiary to it. In this case it is more usual to use the hyphen: see back- 5.
1535Coverdale 1 Kings vii. 8 Y⊇ back courte made betwene y⊇ house and the porche. 1592,1713[see back room a. a]. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (Rtldg.) 319 Coming unexpectedly from a back parlour into the shop. 1812T. Hall in Examiner 31 Aug. 551/2 Which he traced to the back kitchen. 1863Kingsley Water Bab. i. 21 The back staircase from the Taj-mahal at Agra.
II. From the adv.
3. a. In arrear, overdue; behindhand. Of rent, taxes, etc. back pay, back payment, payment to cover a past period of time; also back salary, back wages, etc.
1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. ccvii. [cciii.] 639 To fynde syluer to mayntayne it withall, he founde out subtelly a backe tayle. 1779W. McKendry Jrnl. 21 July in Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc. ser. ii. II. 460 [He] received 500 lashes, it being back allowance due to him. 1804in G. L. Wardle Rep. Charges agst. Dk. York (1809) 542 In which case, if approved, Mr Dundas would not object to allow them back-pay. 1810G. R. Minot Insurrections in Mass. (ed. 2) 59 They completed an act providing for the payment of the back taxes in specifick articles. 1811Records Early Hist. Boston (1908) XXXVIII. 25 Messrs. Crane & Sohier having given up their office in the Town house.—to be notified to settle their back rent with the Treasurer. 1814J. Mayne Jrnl. (1909) 128 And [the postilion] when we refused told us we had passed a bridge for which he was to take back payment, one franc. 1841S. Warren Ten Thous. a Year II. v. (Hoppe) Whether you have come to any arrangement with your late opponent concerning the back-rents. 1843Dickens Christmas Carol v. 159 Not a farthing less. A great many back-payments are included in it. 1888A. C. Gunter Mr. Potter of Texas xviii. 225 He was paying him back wages. 1905N.Y. Even. Post 29 Nov. 10 Nearly two hundred claims for back pay.
b. Belonging to past time; see also back number.
1808Sporting Mag. XXXIII. 99/2 Your neat, elegant, and conveniently sized back volumes. 1869Contemp. Rev. XI. 342 It is the duty of the resident governess..to see that the knowledge of back work is carefully kept up. 1910‘Dehan’ Dop Doctor (1911) xxxix. 363 To its back-files I must refer those who seek a fuller account.
†4. That holds one back. Obs. rare.
1627Feltham Resolves (1647) 66 Take away from him those back feares, that would speak him still to be fragile man.
†5. Turning or looking backward. Obs. rare.
1633P. Fletcher Purple Isl. in Farr S.P. 197 The false back Tartars..in flying ranks, Oft backward turn.
6. Coming back, returning.
1868B. J. Lossing The Hudson 145 They generally descend the river at the close of May, when they are called Back Shad.
7. Turned back, reversed, as in back current, back smoke; spelt backward, as in back slang.
1857J. Wilson Chr. North I. 137 That mysterious and infernal sort, called back-smoke.
▸ back-mutate v.Compare earlier back mutation n. (b) at Additions Genetics (intr.) to undergo back mutation; (also trans.) to cause to undergo back mutation.
1946Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 32 172 It is conceivable that nutritional mutants in bacteria are formed by an inactivation of a gene. From this state it may later *back-mutate. 1961Jrnl. Molecular Biol. 3 121 Each mutant is then tested with various mutagens to see which of them will back-mutate it to wild type. 1986M. Kogut tr. H. G. Schlegel Gen. Microbiol. xv. 447 It has also become obvious that mutants can back mutate and re-acquire the wild type character. 2002Independent (Nexis) 24 June 14 Not only had the vaccine virus back-mutated, it had borrowed useful genes from other harmless viruses living in the gut of its victims, possibly adding to its strength.
▸ back mutation n. (b) Genetics = reverse mutation n. at reverse adj. and adv. Additions
1927Proc. Cambr. Philos. Soc. 23 842 It [sc. mutation] is also more effective than selection in weeding out rare recessives, provided that it is not balanced by *back mutation of dominants. 1946Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quantitative Biol. 11 216 It is not experimentally possible to distinguish a back-mutation from a suppressor mutation in one of a series of adjacent leucineless genes. 1986R. F. Doolittle Urfs & Orfs i. 10 Any position can be subject to reverse changes (‘back-mutations’) and multiple hits. 2001Human Genetics 108167 The normal alleles must have arisen by back mutation in a precursor cell.
▪ IV. back, v.|bæk|
[f. back n.1]
I. To line the back of, make a back to.
†1. To cover the back, clothe. Obs.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 185 To breke beggeris bred & bakken hem [v.r. bak hym, bachem] with cloþis.
2. a. To put a back to, to line the back, or form the back part of.
1728Chambers Cycl. I. 116/2 The French Binders..are enjoin'd by Ordonnance to back their Books with Parchment. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §220 The ashler walls were backed..with rubble stone, or with bricks. 1880L. Higgin Handbk. Embroidery iv. 35 Silk, satin, or velvet..must be backed with a fine cotton or linen lining. 1884Law Times Rep. LI. 230/2 That A.B. do back and cope a hundred rods of their wall. Mod. This book requires to be backed.
b. Photography. To coat the back of (a plate) with some substance which will absorb light and so prevent halation. Hence backed ppl. a.; backing vbl. n., often concr. = the coating applied to the plate.
1878W. de W. Abney Emulsion Proc. in Photogr. iv. 49 This defect is..cured by applying some non-actinic varnish to the back of the plate. This backing may be made as follows: [etc.]. 1882W. K. Burton A.B.C. Mod. Photogr. 59 It is well to ‘back’ the plate; that is, to paint or otherwise cover it at the back with some substance which will absorb light. 1906R. C. Bayley Compl. Photogr. 95 A thick coat of backing is quite unnecessary. Ibid. 320 If there be one purpose for which backed plates are more than ever necessary, it is in interiors.
c. Bookbinding. To force the backs of the sections of (an unbound book) outwards on each side so as to form grooves or ledges into which the edges of the binding boards will fit. The sheets are clamped in a press, after rounding, between two bevelled boards, and the backs struck with a hammer. Hence backing vbl. n.; also attrib. in backing-board, backing-hammer, backing-machine.
1741Chambers Cycl. s.v. Book-binding, Then the back is turned with a hammer, the book being fixed in a press between boards, called backing-boards; in order to make a groove for fixing the paste-boards. 1818H. Parry Art Bookbinding 12 Place the backing-boards a little below the back on each side. Ibid. 13 The centre must only be well rubbed over with the face of the backing-hammer to make it smooth. 1846Dodd Brit. Manuf. ser. vi. iv. 89 In the process of ‘backing’,..the book is laid on a bench,..and hammered near the back edge, with such a peculiar movement of the left hand as causes the back to become rounded while the hammering proceeds. Ibid., When the book is ‘backed’. It is placed between two pieces of plank called ‘backing-boards’. 1879J. W. Zaehnsdorf Bookbinding 44 The boards required for backing, called backing boards, should always be the same length as the book. Ibid. 167 Backing Machine.—A small machine introduced for backing cheap work. 1901D. Cockerell Bookbinding 118 Rounding and backing are best done after the glue has ceased to be tacky.
3. To form the rear of, lie at the back of.
1826Disraeli Viv. Grey iv. vi. 162 Its ruined castle backing the city. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxi. (1856) 270 This beach is backed by rolling dunelike hills. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 167 The chalk cliffs which back the beach.
II. To support at the back. (Cf. back n. 12.)
4. To support or help mechanically, materially,
a. of persons: orig. with physical force, hence with authority, money; to uphold, aid, second.
1548W. Patten Exp. Scotl. Arb. Garner III. 98 A troup of Demi-lances to back them. 1594Greene Orl. Fur. (1599) 30 He backt the Prince of Cuba for my foe. c1605? Rowley Birth. Merl. iv. ii. 340 The Saxons which thou brought'st To back thy usurpations. 1684Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 70 One, that..had taken upon him to back the Lions. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. x. 503 Demands which had been backed by an armed force. 1880Jefferies Hodge & M. I. 79 The old uncle who had ‘backed’ him at the bank.
b. of things. Also fig.
1598Barret Theor. Warres v. i. 122 They [kingdoms] are strong by nature, when..backed with lakes, mountaines, etc. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) s.v., To Back an anchor, to carry out a small anchor..ahead of the large one..in order to support it, and prevent it from loosening. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 65 To back a rope or chain; to put on a preventer, when it is thought likely to break from age or extra strain. 1876Green Short Hist. ii. §6 (1882) 91 The moral revolution..was backed by a religious revival.
c. Mus. To accompany (a singer). Cf. backing vbl. n. 7 b.
1961Jazz Jrnl. July 4 I've heard a record or two of Lang backing a singer.
5. To support morally (by arguments, etc.).
1612T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 9 (1619) 205 Which Godly course Augustine backeth. 1722De Foe Moll. Fl. (1840) 313 He backed his discourses with proper quotations of scripture. 1853H. Rogers Ecl. Faith 76 Authoritative teaching..backed by the performance of miracles?
†6. refl. To support or stay oneself. Obs.
1642Rogers Naaman 189 Others..backe themselves with this, That your best Preachers are no better then they should be.
7. To support one's opinions, judgements, etc., as to an undecided issue, by a wager or bet. to back a horse: to bet or stake money upon his winning a race; to back the field: to bet upon the aggregate of the horses in a race, against one in particular. Also transf. and fig.
1697Dryden Virg. Ecl. iii. 44 Now back your Singing with an equal Stake. 1699Luttrell Brief Rel. IV. 505 The lord Wharton's horse Carelesse has beaten another backt by the duke of Devon, etc. for {pstlg}1900. 1817Byron Beppo xxvii, Most men (till by losing render'd sager) Will back their own opinions with a wager. 1835Marryat Jac. Faithf. xxiii. 80 Some one backed me against another man in the ring for fifty pound a side. 1872,1888[see field n. 10 a]. 1878Chambers's Encycl. V. 428 There are men..ready to lay against any horse and ‘back’ the ‘field’. 1913Punch 26 Mar. 250/2 The sanguine mood induced by backing two winners. 1922C. L. Graves Mr. Punch's Hist. III. 15 Lord Salisbury made his remarkable speech about our having ‘backed the wrong horse, i.e. Turkey, in the Crimean War’. 1940D. Wheatley Scarlet Imp. ii. 20 They [sc. German industrialists] backed the wrong horse, for Hitler has been their taskmaster ever since. 1955Times 9 June 6/3 Dr. Clark said he never backed greyhounds but confined his modest betting to horses.
8. to back up: to stand behind with intent to support or second, to uphold or support materially or morally; esp. in Cricket (of a fielder): To run behind another fielder in readiness to stop the ball if he should fail to do it; (of the batsman at the bowler's end): To start in readiness for a run; and similarly in other games. Cf. backing vbl. n. 6 c. Also without up (Obs.).
1767R. Cotton in F. S. Ashley-Cooper Hambledon Cricket Chron. (1923) 184 Ye Fieldsmen look sharp... When the ball is return'd back it sure. 1840A. Bunn Stage II. 239 Taglioni was engaged on unheard-of terms to ‘back up’ Malibran's ‘off-nights’. 1854J. Pycroft in F. Lillywhite Guide to Cricketers 14 Point should back behind short slip. 1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. i. (1875) 32 Let us all stick to each other and back each other up. 1879Froude Cæsar xxi. 359 He prolonged Cæsar's command, and backed him up in everything. 1883Abp. Benson in Standard 28 June 2/3 Varied appeals to strengthen and ‘back up’ their own long-continued efforts. 1898G. Giffen With Bat & Ball 238 Always back up another fieldsman if you possibly can.
9. Sporting. Of dogs: To follow the lead of a dog that ‘points,’ by falling into the same perfectly stiff or semi-cataleptic state.
1860Encycl. Brit. XX. 220/1 A dog which backs another is not aware of the proximity of game at the time otherwise than by inference. 1875‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. i. iii. §6. 69 Some very high-couraged dogs are very difficult to make ‘back’; I have known many highly-bred ones in which the cataleptic condition was never fully developed.
III. To mount on the back of.
10. a. To mount, ride on (a horse); also, to break him in to the saddle. Also, fig. of the billows, etc. (Cf. To breast the waves.) Now rare.
1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. lxx, The colt that's backed and burthened being young. 1596― 1 Hen. IV, ii. iii. 74 That Roane shall be my Throne. Well, I will backe him straight. c1620Fletcher & Mass. Trag. Barnavelt v. iii, Back the raging waves to bring you proffit. 1623Cockeram Dict. iii. s.v. Bucephalus, He would suffer none to backe him, but his Master. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. I. i. i. (1862) 250 The French horses..must not be backed till they are eight years old. 1783Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell), To back, or break a horse, Equum domare. 1801Southey Thalaba iv. xxx, Could they have back'd the Dromedary then. 1881Swinburne Mary Stuart i. iii. 54 If I should never more back steed alive. 1925E. Selous in C. Waterton Wanderings p. ix, The future caymanestrian..backed and was shortly unbacked by a cow.
b. intr. (See quot. 1942.)
1934J. Lilico Sheep-Dog Memoirs 26 Any keen dog..can be trained to back when there are other dogs doing so. 1942R. B. Kelley Animal Breeding xv. 142 In sheep yards the dog that will ‘back’ probably is the most specialized... Their function is to go forward.. over the tightly packed sheep's backs and, by barking vigorously, cause the leading sheep to keep moving.
†11. To cover (used of animals in copulation).
1658Rowland Mouffet's Theat. Ins. 927 When as the female or she Asse would be backt.
IV. To write or print at the back of.
12. a. To countersign a warrant. b. To endorse a bill, or cheque. Also U.S. and Sc., to address (a letter). c. To print on the back (as well as the front).
1768Blackstone Comm. IV. 238 The warrant of a justice of the peace in one county..must be backed, that is, signed by a justice of the peace in another..before it can be executed there. 1825Jamieson Suppl., To back (a letter), to write the direction; more generally applied merely to the manual performance. An ‘ill-backit letter’; one with the direction ill written. 1829R. C. Sands in Writings (1834) II. 136 You may as well back the paper and send what loose cash you have, besides. 1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) s.v., To back a letter, is Western for to ‘direct’ it. 1888Farmer Americanisms s.v., The frequently-heard commercial phrase of to back, in the sense of ‘to endorse’, literally, to write on the back of a letter, bill, or cheque. 1889J. M. Barrie Window in Thrums ix. 87 He had written a letter to David Alexander, and wanted me to ‘back’ it. 1903S. Clapin Dict. Amer. 30 To back, often heard, in parts of the West and the South, in sense of to address a letter.
V. trans. To cause to move back, put back.
†13. To draw back, withdraw. Obs.
1578Timme Calvin on Gen. 52 If he do but a little backe his hande, all things shall by and by perish, etc.
14. a. To set, lay, or incline back.
1846Ellis Elgin Marb. I. 27 Was scooped in, and backed against the rock.
b. to back a sail, back a yard: to lay it aback; ‘to brace the yard so that the wind may blow directly on the front of the sail, and thus retard the ship's course.’ Also absol.
1707London Gaz. No. 4380/3 The Firebrand.. immediately backing her Foresail, drove off. 1812Capt. Carden in Examiner 4 Jan. (1813) 6/1 The enemy backed and came to the wind. 1828Moore Meet. of Ships iii, Then sails are backed, we nearer come. 1847Sir J. Ross Voy. S. Pole II. 168 By backing and filling the sails we endeavoured to avoid collision with the larger masses [of ice].
15. a. To push back, cause to move back or in the opposite direction.
1781H. Hamilton in Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. App. 111 (1910) II. 227 The shallowness of the water obliged us to make a dam across both rivers to back the water into the swamp. 1812Examiner 24 Aug. 533/1 One..seized the horse by the nose, backed him. 1814Southey Roderick xxv, And with sidelong step Backing Orelio, drew him to the ground. 1848Dickens Dombey viii, Backing his chair a little.
b. esp. To propel in the opposite direction, by reversing the action; as, to back a locomotive engine, a boat; also, to back the oars, and, in same sense, to back water.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) s.v., To back astern..is to manage the oars in a direction contrary to the usual method, so as that the boat..shall retreat. 1808Ashe Trav. Amer. xxxvii. 303, I again took the helm, and ordered the men to back water with all their might. 1823F. Cooper Pioneer xxvii, ‘Back water,’ cried Natty, as the canoe glided over the place. 1830Marryat King's Own xlvi, Before the boats could be backed astern. 1837― Dog-Fiend xv, The smugglers backed water to stop their way. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 65 A sailing vessel is backed by means of the sails, a steamer by reversing the paddles or screw-propeller. Back her! The order directing the engineer to reverse the movement of the cranks, and urge the vessel astern. 1884Manch. Exam. 18 Sept. 5/2 Then the train was backed.
VI. intr. (for refl.) To move, go, come back.
16. a. To move back, recede, retreat backward.
1486Bk. St. Albans, Hawking B vj, The terettys serue to kepe hir from wyndyng whan she backes. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xvi. (1856) 123 Backing into wider quarters. 1860Dickens Uncomm. Trav. v. (1866) 33/2 Backing into the fireplace. 1873G. C. Davies Mount. and Mere xiv. 109 The big fish slowly backed out of sight.
b. to back and fill (see fill v. 4 c, d), to go backward and forward. Also transf. and fig. U.S.
1777[see backing vbl. n. 4]. 1848Durivage & Burnham Stray Subj. 174 The steam was well up on both boats, which lay rolling, and backing and filling, from the action of the paddles, at the dock. 1854Congress. Globe 11 Dec. 57 Men will be sent to Congress who will not ‘back and fill’, and be on one principle for one week..and upon another principle another week. 1869‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. xxiii. 229 How in the world he [sc. the gondolier] can back and fill, shoot straight ahead,..is a problem to me. 1890Harper's Mag. Sept. 598/2 Nimble stewards back and fill from galley to pantry. 1903N.Y. Even. Post 24 Oct., The engine was backing and filling on a sidetrack.
17. To move in the reverse direction. Said of the wind when it changes in a direction opposite to the course of the sun. Opposed to veer. Also said of a railway train, etc.
1860Adm. Fitz-Roy in Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 40 The wind appeared to ‘back,’ or ‘retrograde.’ 1870Lowell Study Wind. 5 Did the wind back round or go about with the sun? 1894Idler July 609 Sometimes he would pull out when he could hear the express coming, and make her back down to the next station. 1901G. Boothby Myst. Clasped Hands iv. 75 At last the train backed into the station.
18. to back out: to move backward out of a place without turning; fig. to draw back cautiously or tacitly from an arrangement or situation, to retreat out of a difficulty.
1807Deb. & Proc. U.S. Congress 651 Our committee recommended us to recede—to back out. 1818Scott Rob Roy viii, Determined that Morris should not back out of the scrape so easily. 1830Marryat King's Own xxi, ‘Sure your honour's in luck’..replied Barney, grinning, and backing out of the room. 1863Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. ix. 226 Octavius backs out; his caution and reserve come to his rescue.
19. to back down: to descend as one does a ladder; to recede downward from a position taken up. Also fig. Orig. U.S.
1849C. Lanman Lett. Alleghany Mts. xi. 90 When we got up about half way..they all three of 'em backed down and said I must not keep on. 1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 17 To back down, to withdraw a charge, eat one's own words; as ‘I asked Jenkins, before witnesses, if he had called me a cheat; and he backed right down.’ 1879F. R. Stockton Rudder Grange x. 113 We're not going to back down. 1880St. James's Gaz. 11 Oct., Unless the Government back down from their preparations at this point. 1884Harper's Mag. June 66/2 Be firm, don't back down. 1934Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves vii. 73 But don't tell me that when he saw how shirty she was about it, the chump didn't back down?
20. to back off (orig. U.S.).
a. To draw back, retreat, let up.
b. fig. To abandon one's intention, stand, etc.; to relent or back down. colloq.
1938M. K. Rawlings Yearling iv. 37 He [sc. the bear] seemed to stand baffled... The dogs backed off an instant. 1954Amer. Speech XXIX. 93 After you get through the traps you back off, so as to slow down. 1961in Webster (fig.). 1963K. Neville in D. Knight One Hundred Yrs. Sci. Fiction (1969) 73 ‘It's going to cost me near a hundred a month—that's a steep bite.’ ‘I still think they'll back off.’ 1979Arizona Daily Star 22 July a10/4 A man who took authorities to the shallow graves of two women he admitted killing backed off..from an earlier story that there were six more victims.
21. Of a building, etc.: to be so situated that the back abuts on a particular piece of land or property.
1891G. M. Fenn Mahme Nousie II. xv. 257 This opening backed on to the forest, and the escaping party passed in at once among the trees. 1921Edin. Rev. Jan. 190 In St. James' Square, on which the club backs, the attack was more serious.
22. to back up.
a. Of running water: to meet a barrier and become deeper. Of a barrier, etc.: to cause running water to accumulate and become deeper. Chiefly U.S. Hence back-up n., an accumulation of such water (Webster, 1934).
1837Knickerbocker X. 409 They..descended this river to the mouth of White river; and as this was backed up by the spring freshets, the voyagers turned their course up the stream. 1842P. Pusey in Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. III. xiii. 176 The field is subject to floods, which had backed up in the drains. 1844W. Palin Ibid. V. v. 78 An obstruction to their drainage occasioned by corn mills backing up the water to a considerable extent. 1884[see backing vbl. n. 4]. 1960Times 7 Mar. 8/3 The enormous artificial lake..will reach 300 miles southwards, 75 miles farther than the back-up behind the present dam. 1963R. L. Carson Silent Spring vi. 55 Through the labour of the beavers, a lake backed up.
b. To move backwards; also trans., to drive (a vehicle) backwards. orig. U.S.
1834Visit to Texas viii. 116 A small log building..in the rear of which a cart was backed up on the Prairie. 1872‘Mark Twain’ Sketches 269 He then backed up against Pompey's statue, and squared himself to receive his assailants. 1883Harper's Mag. Aug. 400 The wagons were backed up against the walls. 1948A. Cooke in Manch. Guardian Weekly 21 Oct. 14/2 He gave the proper signals and slowly backed up.
c. Climbing. (See quot. 1923.)
1909C. E. Benson Brit. Mountaineering v. 139 Backing up on smooth walls is extremely tiring. 1923G. D. Abraham First Steps to Climbing v. 58 It may be easy to ‘back up’, with feet and knees on one side and back on the other.
d. trans. Computing. To provide back-up for; to make a duplicate copy of (a file, program, etc.), esp. to safeguard against loss or corruption of the original.
1967AFIPS Conf. Proc. XXX. 776/1 A parallel DDC computer system..not only provides computer backup but ‘backs up’ the time-shared analog and digital input/output equipment. 1974Computing Rev. June 204/2 The objective of this paper is to determine the optimum frequency for backing up a data base. 1983Austral. Microcomputer Mag. Sept. 70/3 The tape drive can also be used to backup the IBM XT's hard disk.
23. trans. To carry on the back. U.S.
1840Dana Bef. Mast xx, We started off every morning..and cut wood..and after dinner..carted and ‘backed’ it down until sunset. 1895Outing (U.S.) XXVII. 47/2 These hardy woodsmen backing packs of from eighty to one hundred pounds each.
Add:[VI.] [22.] e. intr. Of motor traffic: to form a stationary or slow-moving queue, as behind an obstruction. Also const. in perfect with to be. Also fig. colloq. (chiefly U.S.).
1964N.Y. Times 24 June 24/8 Each time it [sc. a drawbridge] opens, traffic backs up on heavily traveled Bruckner Boulevard. 1977Washington Post 9 Nov. b8/2 Another car, also with its hood up and facing the stalled car, was trying to give it a jump start... The transfusion wasn't working and traffic was backing up as far as the eye could see. 1979Ibid. 1 Sept. c3/5 Traffic on the Capital Beltway was backed up for miles just before the rush to get away for the Labor Day weekend when a tractor-trailer truck collided head-on with another truck. 1983J. M. Coetzee Life & Times Michael K i. 48 Backed up around the bend as far as K could see was the rest of the convoy. 1984New Yorker 9 Apr. 72/2 Decisions backed up: the scheduler couldn't complete the campaign schedule until he had cleared it with the candidate; press releases waited for the candidate's approval. 1986Times 25 Aug. 8/7 On the far side, traffic heading south is backed up for miles.
▪ V. back, adv.|bæk|
[Aphetic for aback adv., OE. on bæc = into or in the rear. Not found bef. 14th c.; formerly with comparative backer, occas. backermore.]
I. In a direction to the rear.
1. lit. In the direction of one's back, or the back of any object in question; toward the rear; away from a forward position. Often with the vb. (go, come, etc.) omitted, esp. in the imperative. back with: move back with, take or draw back.
a1300Cursor M. 7525 Ga, Neyder forth ne ȝeit on back. 1460Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 55 With that a-noon I went me bakkermore. 1549Latimer Ploughers 17 No man y⊇ loketh bakke. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 158 The bore shall backe first. 1590R. Harvey Pl. Perc. 9 Backe with that leg, Perceuall. 1810Scott Lady of L. ii. xxxiv, Back, beardless boy! Back, minion! 1851H. Stephens Bk. of Farm 691 Language to horses..To step backward—Back is the only word I can remember to have heard for this motion. 1860Maury Phys. Geog. Sea viii. §378 This current which baffled and beat back this fleet.
2. Away from what is treated as the front; from the actual or ordinary position.
c1500Blowbol's Test. in Halliwell Nugæ Poet. 12 To draw the bake fer out of their sight. 1611Bible Matt. xxviii. 2 The angel of the Lord rolled back the stone. 1792Munchausen's Trav. xiv. 4 The crowds who were about me retreated back. 1816J. Wilson City of Plague i. ii. 132 A blast..Drives me back from the grave. Mod. Try to force this bolt back.
3. Away from an engagement, promise, or undertaking.
1783Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell) s.v. Back, To go back from his word, Fidem violare. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 701 Harley and Foley..promised, with an air of confidence..but soon went back from their word. Mod. I accepted his offer at once, lest he should draw back.
4. Into time past, backward in time.
1711Steele Spect. No. 153 ⁋2 Able to look back on Youth with Satisfaction. 1712― ibid. No. 484 ⁋2 If we go back to the days of Solomon. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) VI. 95, I might have gone further back than that fatal seventh. 1854A. Jameson Bk. of Th. (1877) 123 In memory I can go back to a very early age.
II. In the reverse direction.
5. lit. In the opposite direction in space, so as to return to the place originally left. Often with vb. (go, etc.) omitted: cf. 1.
a1535More Wks. 6 (R.) To pull him back into the voluptuous brode way. 1559Myrr. Mag., Jack Cade x. 6 Remoued our campe, and backe to Senocke went. c1590Marlowe Faust. v. 37 If thou deny it I will back to hell. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. ii. vii. 14, I will suruay the inscriptions backe againe. 1624T. Taylor Two Serm. i. 21 Backe they will to Egypt in all haste. 1783Burke Affairs Ind. Wks. XI. 54 Send it back to Bengal for the purchase of Indian merchandise. 1852C. M. Yonge Cameos I. 216 Back came John in rage and fury.
6. In reversal of progress, so as to return to a former condition.
1535Coverdale Jer. xliv. 2 They wente backe to do sacrifice and worshipe vnto straunge goddes. 1752Johnson Rambl. No. 204 ⁋6 And then fall back to the common state of man. 1817Byron Manfred ii. ii. 78, I felt myself degraded back to them, And was all clay again. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. App. 749 The whole country fell back into heathenism.
7. a. In reversal of action or change of any kind, so as to restore former circumstances or relations; formerly expressed by again, which is still sometimes used, and often added.
1607Shakes. Cor. i. i. 149 All From me do backe receiue the Flowre of all. 1692E. Walker Epictetus' Mor. (1737) xv, How is that lost that is but given back? 1752Johnson Rambl. No. 193 ⁋11 Three times I sent it to the printer, and three times I fetched it back. 1865Baring-Gould Werewolves v. 55 And transformed himself back again into his human shape. 1883Gilmour Mongols xvii. 203 Has any one among us died..and come back to life?
b. ellipt. (= come, received, put, etc. back.) To be back = F. être de retour.
1879W. Ward Ess. Philos. Theism (1884) I. 386 My desire to be back comfortably in the warm house. Mod. How long have you been back? I must have them back some day.
8. In return, requital, repayment, retaliation.
1599Shakes. Much Ado iv. i. 29 What haue I to giue you back? 1601― Twel. N. iv. iii. 18 Take, and giue backe affayres, and their dispatch. 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. i, With heavy penalty will it one day be required back. 1863Kingsley Water Bab. viii. 326 She knew they would pay her back. Mod. Strongly tempted to answer back.
III. Of position.
9. In a position to the rear, or away from the front; at a point or distance behind.
c1300in O.E. Misc. 228 He bad him stonde bac. 1473J. Warkworth Chron. 22 And aftyre..it aroose north-est, and so bakkere and bakkere. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. ii. 38 My Lord, stand backe, and let the Coffin passe. 1850Thackeray Pendennis xvi. (1884) 143 Mrs. Pendennis's visit..which we have recorded many pages back. Mod. The field lies back from the road. I left him back at the second milestone.
10. In a state of check to forward motion in space, to progress in condition, to production, exhibition, or declaration.
1535Coverdale 2 Kings iv. 24 Dryue forth, and keep me not bak. 1575–6Thynne in Animadv. Introd. 56 There is a huge stoone tyed at my foote, whiche keepeth me backe. 1611Bible Num. xxiv. 11 The Lord hath kept thee back from honour. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 255 A nation..long kept back by a sterile soil and a severe climate. Mod. To keep back dispatches, main facts, essential particulars. To shade fruit trees, so as to keep the fruit back.
11. In time past; ago. Usually following a measure of time.
1796Southey Lett. Spain (1799) 139 Dug up, a few years back, at Buenos Ayres. 1860Hawthorne Marble Faun (1879) I. viii. 86 For months back. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xi. 58 A house which, two generations back, had been ignoble. Mod. Far back in the Middle Ages.
12. Behind in condition, behind-hand, in arrear.
1875Chamb. Jrnl. No. 133. 66 A dinnerless Sunday and a week back in their rent.
13. U.S. slang. Served (and drunk) alongside or together with an alcoholic drink.
1976M. Machlin Pipeline xxxiv. 382 Doheny drank Crown Royal straight with water back. 1978N.Y. Times Mag. 23 July 23/4 Somebody has to figure out why drinkers who used to order ‘soda on the side’ now say soda back, and why whiskey ‘straight’ has to be ordered straight up rather than neat.
IV. Phrases.
14. † back and fore (arch. or dial.), back and forth, back and forward: backwards and forwards, to and fro. Also as attrib. phr.
1613[see forth adv. 1 a]. 1653Urquhart Rabelais i. xxiii, He would go back and fore along the foresaid rope. 1678R. Lestrange Seneca's Mor. (1685) 4 All Material Benefits are tossed back and forward, and change their Master. 1816Pickering Vocab. s.v., Back and Forth, backwards and forwards. Ex. He was walking back and forth. This is a very common expression in New England; but it is used only in conversation. 1837Dunlap Mem. Water Drinker (ed. 2) I. 57, I am not one of your brook trout to be played back and forth with a hair line as her husband catches um. 1839Anecd. & Trad. (Camd.) Young girls..dance over the candle back and forth. 1847Le Fanu T. O'Brien 199 Barristers..flitted back and forward through the passages. 1857S. H. Hammond Wild Northern Scenes 138 They would run here and there, back and forth, at full speed along the sands. 1884Roe in Harper's Mag. Sept. 540/2, I will go back and forth every day. 1899Congress. Rec. Feb. 1743/1 Some of you..remember when at Vicksburg our boys got so close to the Confederates that they talked back and forth. 1907U. Sinclair Industrial Republic p. xii, I would find myself comparing..the two eras, and transposing its leading figures back and forth. 1909E. B. Titchener Text-Bk. Psychol. I. x. 47 This back-and-forth movement will continue. 1962Listener 1 Mar. 377/1 Both dangers can be avoided if there is enough back-and-forth traffic of ideas, information, and influence.
15. back of: back from, behind. (Esp. in U.S.). Cf. in back of (back n.1 23 g).
1694in Cal. Virginia St. Papers (1875) I. 44 We Ranged on Ackoquane and so back of the Inhabitants and ye So[u]th. 1755L. Evans Geogr. Ess. 15 If the French settle back of us, the English must either submit to them, or have their throats cut. Ibid. 16 If we secure the Country back of Carolina in time. 1823G. W. Ogden Lett. fr. West 76 The uplands back of the Oak Hills of the Ohio river. 1840Dana Bef. Mast ix, The mission stands a little back of the town. 1857Tomes Amer. in Japan iii. 83 The country which stretches back of Shanghai. 1875Whitney Life Lang. viii. 143 Another earlier designation of a more or less kindred conception lay back of it. 1875Sears Serm. & Songs 287 The home lies back of the Sunday School. 1899Westm. Gaz. 3 May 3/2 He has ideas back of his words. 1949E. Pound Pisan Cantos lxxx. 96 In the shade back of the jo-house. 1953M. Laski Vict. Chaise-Longue 21 No one could live there, back of the railways, down by the canal.
▸ back in the day (occas. days): (esp. in African-American use) in the past; some time ago.
1986‘Beastie Boys’ Girls (transcription of song) in odin.prohosting.com/bboylyr (O.E.D. Archive) Back in the day There was this girl around the way. 1994Vibe Nov. 78/3 Back in the day there were Josephine Baker, Billie Holliday, Sarah Vaughan, and Lena Horne. 1998R. Price Freedomland i. ii. 48 Jesse had known one of them from back in the day. 2003E. McLaughlin & N. Kraus Nanny Diaries iii. 73 One drunken night when your buddies from ‘back in the day’ called me a ho. |