back

The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.

Adjective

  1. At or near the rear.
    • Go in the back door of the house.
    • Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises,...
  2. Returned or restored to a previous place or condition.
    • He was on vacation, but now he’s back.
    • The office fell into chaos when you left, but now order is back.
  3. Not current.
    • I’d like to find a back issue of that magazine.
  4. Situated away from the main or most frequented areas.
    • They took a back road.
    • He lives out in the back country.
    • It's OK that the highway is jammed, because I know a back way. It's another good way to get there.
  5. In arrears; overdue.
    • They still owe three months’ back rent.
    • Several of the former Hotel York workers have filed with the California Labor Division to collect what they feel is owed them in the way of back overtime. - 1980 December 20, David Lamble, “Workers, Owners Battle It Out...
  6. Moving or operating backward.
    • back action
  7. Pronounced with the highest part of the body of the tongue toward the back of the mouth, near the soft palate (most often describing a vowel).
    • The vowel of lot has a back vowel in most dialects of England.

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der.? Proto-Germanic *baką Proto-West Germanic *bak Old English bæc Middle English bak English back From Middle English bak, from Old English bæc, from Proto-West Germanic *bak, from Proto-Germanic *baką, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“to bend”). The adverb represents an aphetic form of aback. Compare Middle Low German bak (“back”), from Old Saxon bak, and West Frisian bekling (“chair back”), Old High German bah, Swedish and Norwegian bak. Cognate with German Bache (“sow [adult female hog]”).

Forms

more back most back

Synonyms

rear former previous

Antonyms

front current main

Related

back vowel

Derived

back alley back door back room backway

Adverb

  1. To or in a previous condition or place.
    • He gave back the money.
    • I left my mobile phone back at the hotel. I’ll have to go back and get it.
    • We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters...
  2. In a direction opposite to that in which someone or something is facing or normally pointing.
    • Someone pushed me in the chest and I fell back.
    • The grandfather clock toppled back and crashed to the ground.
    • Her arm was bent back at an odd angle.
  3. In a direction opposite to the usual or desired direction of movement or progress, physically or figuratively.
    • Wind the film back a few frames.
    • Don’t forget to put the clocks back by one hour tonight!
    • This mishap has set the project back considerably.
  4. Towards, into or in the past.
    • These records go back years.
    • He built a time machine and travelled back to 1800.
    • Think back to how you felt last year.
  5. Away from someone or something; at a distance.
    • Keep back! It could explode at any moment!
  6. Away from the front or from an edge.
    • Sit all the way back in your chair.
    • Step back from the curb.
    • Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path[…]. It twisted and turned,[…]and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and...
  7. So as to shrink, recede or move aside, or cause to do so.
    • This tree is dying back.
    • Clear back all this vegetation.
    • Draw back the curtains and let in some light.
  8. In a manner that impedes.
    • Fear held him back.
  9. In a reciprocal manner; in return.
    • If you hurt me, I’ll hurt you back.
    • The light bounces back off the mirror.
    • I was at Park Safari Africa in Canada on the Canadian border. This was years ago outside of Plattsburgh, New York. And I had a new car at the time, and I was driving through, going through the monkey area. And they said...
  10. Earlier, ago.
    • We met many years back.
    • I last saw him a day or two back.
    • Our road was chiefly through woods, and part of it lay through the Hurricane-track, that is where a strong wind, some years back, opened a passage through the woods for a mile in breadth... - 1822, John Woods, Two...
  11. To a later point in time. See also put back.
    • The meeting has been moved back an hour. It was at 3 o’clock; now it's at 4 o’clock.

Forms

further back farther back furthest back farthest back

Derived

spring forward, fall back

Noun Entry 3

  1. The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.
    • Could you please scratch my back?
    • It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the...

    1. The spine and associated tissues.

      • I hurt my back lifting those crates.

    2. (slang, uncountable) Large and attractive buttocks.

      • Take the average black man and ask him that. She gotta pack much back. - 1992, “Baby Got Back”, Sir Mix-A-Lot (lyrics):
      • He got his hand on her behind and caressed her firm, ample flesh.[…]“You got some back on you, girl.” - 2002, George Pelecanos, Right as Rain: A Novel, →ISBN, page 123:
      • Back so big, look like your jeans shrunk in the wash / And we don't really need Netflix, I'mma give you something to watch - 2016 February 14, Joseph Adenuga, Darren Dixon, Tariq Devega, “Ladies Hit Squad” (track 6), in...

    3. (figurative) The part of a piece of clothing which covers the back.

      • I still need to finish the back of your dress.

    4. The backrest, the part of a piece of furniture which receives the human back.

      • Can you fix the back of this chair?

    5. (obsolete) That part of the body that bears clothing. (Now used only in the phrase clothes on one's back.)

      • Do thou but think / What ’tis to cram a maw or clothe a back / From such a filthy vice - 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure:
  2. That which is farthest away from the front.
    • He sat in the back of the room.

    1. The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side.

      • Turn the book over and look at the back.

    2. The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side.

      The edge of a book which is bound.

      • The titles are printed on the backs of the books.

    3. The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side.

      (printing) The inside margin of a page.

      • Convenience and custom have familiarised us to the printed page being a little higher than the middle of the leaf, and to its having a little more margin at the fore edge than in the back. - 1841, William Savage, A...

    4. The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side.

      The side of a blade opposite the side used for cutting.

      • Tap it with the back of your knife.

    5. The reverse side; the side that is not normally seen.

      • I hung the clothes on the back of the door.

    6. Area behind, such as the backyard of a house or the rear storeroom of a retail store.

      • We’ll meet out in the back of the library.
      • Are you sure you're totally out of hair gel? Could you please check in the back?

    7. The part of something that goes last.

      • The car was near the back of the train.

    8. (sports) In some team sports, a position behind most players on the team.

      • The backs were lined up in an I formation.
      • […]Rovers were also aided by some poor defending from West Brom, whose lapses at the back undid their excellent work on the ball and condemned Roberto di Matteo's Baggies side to a third straight defeat. - 2010 December...
  3. The upper part of a natural object which is considered to resemble an animal’s back.
    • The small boat raced over the backs of the waves.
  4. A support or resource in reserve.
    • This project / Should have a back or second, that might hold, / If this should blast in proof. - c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William...
  5. The keel and keelson of a ship.
    • The ship’s back broke in the pounding surf.
  6. The roof of a horizontal underground passage.
    • The stope is kept full of broken ore, sufficient only being drawn to leave a working space between the floor of broken ore and the back of the stope. - 1911, Robert Bruce Brinsmade, Mining Without Timber, page 161:
  7. Effort, usually physical.
    • Put some back into it!
  8. A non-alcoholic drink (often water or a soft drink), to go with hard liquor or a cocktail.
    • Could I get a martini with a water back?
  9. Among leather dealers, one of the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
    • […]as delivered by a tanner the average weight of a back and two strips would be about 42 pounds[…]. - 1848, Maine Supreme Judicial Court, Maine Reports, volume 6, page 397:
  10. Clipping of backstroke.

Forms

backs

Synonyms

reverse dorsum spine

Antonyms

front

Hyponyms

buttocks

Related

bacon

Derived

aback A-back abackward arrowback assback baby back rib backache backake backaching back actor back against the wall back and edge back biter back day back extension backhoe back-of-an-envelope back-of-the-envelope back-pad back squat backward big back blow someone's back out boostback

Noun Entry 4

  1. A large shallow vat; a cistern, tub, or trough, used by brewers, distillers, dyers, picklers, gluemakers, and others, for mixing or cooling wort, holding water, hot glue, etc.
  2. A ferryboat.

Origin

Etymology tree French bacbor. English back Borrowed from French bac.

Forms

backs

Verb

  1. To go in the reverse direction.
    • The train backed into the station.
    • The horse refuses to back.
    • Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you’re run off your course again. This is a rich man’s summer ‘cottage’ […].” So I started to back away again into the bushes. But I hadn’t backed more’n a couple of yards when I see something...
  2. To support.
    • I back you all the way.
    • Which horse are you backing in this race?
    • And Netherlands, backed by a typically noisy and colourful travelling support, started the second period in blistering fashion and could have had four goals within 10 minutes - 2012 June 9, Owen Phillips, “Euro 2012:...
  3. To change direction contrary to the normal pattern; that is, to shift anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere, or clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
  4. To brace the yards so that the wind presses on the front of the sail, to slow the ship.
  5. To lay out a second, smaller anchor to provide additional holding power.
  6. To stand still behind another dog which has pointed.
  7. To push or force backwards.
    • to back oxen
    • The mugger backed her into a corner and demanded her wallet.
    • The soil seems to be very good; the creek runs through the reserve, and has a dam thrown across it, which backs the water for a very considerable distance, and enables them to irrigate a portion of their cultivation...
  8. To get upon the back of; to mount.
    • I will back him [a horse] straight. - c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
    • The horse was the grey stallion he aye rode, the very beast he had ridden for many a wager with the wild lads of the Cross Keys. No man but himself durst back it, and it had lamed many a hostler lad and broke two necks...
  9. To place or seat upon the back.
    • Great Jupiter, upon his eagle backed, / Appeared to me. - 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […]...
  10. To make a back for; to furnish with a back.
    • to back books
  11. To adjoin behind; to be at the back of.
    • He hath a garden circummured with brick, Whose western side is with a vineyard backed - c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, &...
    • the chalk cliffs which back the beach - 1877, Thomas Henry Huxley, Physiography: An Introduction to the Study of Nature:
    • So this was my future home, I thought![…]Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it...
  12. To write upon the back of, possibly as an endorsement.
    • to back a letter; to back a note or legal document

Forms

backs backing backed

Antonyms

veer

Derived

aback a bad penny always comes back all the way to Egery and back alpaca back and sides answer back around back ask back backable back action backaction back-alley back alley back alleyway back and fill back and fore back-and-forth back and forth back-and-forthing back and forward back anno back-annotate back-annotation back-announce back announce