bush or remote farming area far distant from city amenities
Derived forms
backblock (ˈbackˌblock)
adjective
backblocker (ˈbackˌblocker)
noun
backblocks in American English
(ˈbækˌblɑks)
noun
(used with a pl. v.) Austral
the outback
They live in the backblocks
Word origin
[1870–75; back1 + block + -s3]This word is first recorded in the period 1870–75. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: asymmetric, billing, immobilize, linkage, washout-s an ending marking nouns as plural (boys; wolves), occurring also on nouns that have no singular (dregs; entrails; pants; scissors), or on nouns that have a singular with a different meaning (clothes; glasses; manners; thanks). The pluralizing value of -s is weakened or lost in a number of nouns that now often take singular agreement,as the names of games (billiards; checkers; tiddlywinks) and of diseases (measles; mumps; pox; rickets); the latter use has been extended to create informal names for a variety of involuntaryconditions, physical or mental (collywobbles; giggles; hots; willies). A parallel set of formations, where -s has no plural value, are adjectives denoting socially unacceptable or inconvenientstates (bananas; bonkers; crackers; nuts; preggers; starkers)