back countryn.
/ˈbak ˌkʌntri/, U.S. /ˈbæk ˌkəntri/, Australian English /ˈbæk ˌkʌntri/, New Zealand English /ˈbɛk ˌkʌntri/ Chiefly North American, Australian, and New Zealand.
The country lying towards or in the rear of a settled district.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > a land or country > part of country or district > [noun] > back country or hinterland
backland1683
back country1746
back blocks1872
hinterland1890
back1897
gramadoelas1950
1746 in C. R. Woodward Ploughs (1941) 332 In the back Country abt Paoqualin The Cattle feed is near over.
1755 G. Washington Let. 2 Apr. in Writings (1889) I. 145 I herewith send you a small map of the back country.
1784 in A. Ellicott Life & Lett. (1908) 20 The greatest consolation which I have in this Back Country.
1789 J. Morse Amer. Geogr. 415 The mistletoe is common in the back country.
1817 S. R. Brown Western Gazetteer 206 The back country for several miles is reported to be swampy.
1831 J. M. Peck Guide for Emigrants iii. 292 It..has an abundance of excellent water, and a back country as range for stock.
1840 N.Z. Jrnl. 29 Aug. 209/2 Hobson is founding a town at the Bay of Islands, but we have an assurance that there is no back country there.
1844 Bytown Gaz. (Ottawa) 8 Aug. 2/6 A road into the interior..would not only benefit Kingston, (so much in want of a productive back country) but would open new tracts for settlement.
1860 S. Butler First Year Canterbury Settl. 24 Mar. (1863) iv. 47 At last I have been really in the extreme back country.
1868 Putnam's Mag. Nov. 562 The hotel was a roomy log-house,..and commanded a view of the back country—a prairie stretching off into the western horizon.
1876 Congress. Rec. Jan. 668/2 West point for all practical purposes is an isolated place. There is no back country to speak of.
1882 Macmillan's Mag. 46 70/2 Driven..into the backest of the back country.
1902 Westm. Gaz. 6 Aug. 2/1 The unappropriated back-country of Tunis and Tripoli.
1936 ‘F. Gerald’ Millionaire in Mem. iii. 71 Travelling through the back country with Bill Langford was an education, a ‘bushman's’ education.
1964 Weekend Mag. (Montreal) 11 July 20/2 Devil's club [is] the thorned scourge of hikers in much of British Columbia's back country.
Compounds
General attributive.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > a land or country > part of country or district > [adjective] > remote or outlying
out of the wayc1175
uplandishc1380
foreign1424
outland1500
outlying1651
outsetting1658
back country1775
out-of-the-world1775
outlandish1792
outworld1808
upcountry1810
backwoodish1836
fresh water1860
backwoodsy1862
way back1884
outstate1911
upstate1935
1775 C. Drayton Let. in S. Carolina Hist. & Geneal. Mag. (1926) 27 137 His trepanned Lordship advises the back Country people not to take up arms.
1787 in Amer. Museum (1789) 2 Chron. 1/2 The back country people have killed three hundred Indians.
1806 Deb. Congr. 15 Apr. (1852) 1043 Back-country gentlemen, who live inland all along from New Hampshire to Georgia.
1867 M. A. Barker Let. Aug. in Station Life N.Z. (1870) xx. 173 The distant ‘back-country’ ranges.
1871 E. Eggleston Hoosier School-master Pref. 5 Describing life in the back-country districts.
1887 Harper's Mag. Jan. 328/1 In a back-country town..there chanced to die one of the members of the community.
1895 Cent. Mag. July 323/1 To make this New Jersey holiday, assemble a thousand back-country vehicles, of all sorts.
1901 ‘Linesman’ Words by Eyewitness (1902) 161 Imaginations so crude as those of the back-country Boers.
1948 Coast to Coast 1947 296 I was in a back-country farm in Central Otago.
1965 Star Weekly (Toronto) 2 Jan. 37/2 The nearest doctor was 70 miles away over a poor back-country road.
Derivatives
back-countryman n.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > inhabitant according to environment > country dweller > [noun]
countrymanc1300
landmana1400
Jack (John) Upland1402
rurala1475
rustical?1532
rusticc1550
Jock upalanda1568
John Uponlanda1568
rustican1570
countrywoman1679
country cousin1692
ruralist1739
country mouse1750
backwoodsman1774
back-countryman1796
mountaineer1837
ruralite1841
mountain man1847
smock-frock1858
way back1890
woop woop1936
swamp Yankee1941
1796 Gazette of U.S. 19 Nov. (advt.) A new Ballet Dance, called the Back Countryman, or the New Settlers.
1845 W. G. Simms Wigwam & Cabin 1st Ser. 22 The boatman, who..knew by his dialect and dress that he was a back-countryman, came to his relief.
1942 Marsh & Burdon New Zealand 9 The shepherds, musterers, shearers and drovers, the back-countrymen of New Zealand.
Draft additions March 2009
Skiing. Of, relating to, or designating any of various styles of skiing performed on ungroomed, often remote, terrain, rather than on prepared slopes; = off-piste adj. Cf. randonnée n. 2, Alpine touring n. at Alpine adj. and n. Compounds 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > winter sports > skiing > [adjective] > types of skiing
Alpine1903
cross-country1911
downhill1911
para-ski1942
Nordic1948
off-piste1959
heli-ski1982
back country1983
1983 N.Y. Times 16 Jan. a24 The enthusiasm for back-country skis with metal edges.
1992 World Monitor Feb. 51/1 This is backcountry, as opposed to cross-country, skiing—high meadows and wooded uplands when you make your own tracks and stay in remote cabins and lodges.
2003 Independent on Sunday 2 Nov. (TimeOff section) 11/4 We headed for the various unpisted but marked routes that allow you to enjoy the flavour of backcountry skiing without ever being in danger of getting lost.
2005 Santa Fean Dec. 17 It's advisable to learn something about backcountry ski safety while you're learning how to telemark.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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