back

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /bæk/, [bæk], [bak], [-k̚], [-ˀk]

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• (Scouse) IPA^(key): [bax]
• Rhymes: -æk

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]”).

back (not generally comparable, comparative more back, superlative most back)

1. At or near the rear.

   Go in the back door of the house.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     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, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.

2. (predicative) 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.

5. In arrears; overdue.

   They still owe three months' back rent.

6. Moving or operating backward.

   back action

7. (comparable, phonetics) 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.

In linguistic use describing the position of the tongue, the comparative backer and superlative backest are usual; these may also be occasionally found for other senses, especially informally.

• (near the rear): rear
• (not current): former, previous

• (antonym(s) of “near the rear, phonetics”): front
• (antonym(s) of “not current”): current
• (antonym(s) of “away from the main area”): main (of roads)

• back vowel

back (comparative further back, superlative furthest back)

1. (not comparable) To or in a previous condition or place.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     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 and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.

   • 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:

     From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.

   He gave back the money.

   I left my mobile phone back at the hotel. I'll have to go back and get it.

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.

   Everything was simpler back in the old days.

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.

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     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 all blazing with lights. 'Twas the house I'd seen the roof of from the beach.

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. (not comparable) In a reciprocal manner; in return.

   If you hurt me, I'll hurt you back.

   The light bounces back off the mirror.

   • 2006 May 9, Penn Jillette, Michael Goudeau, quoting Pat, 34:52 from the start, in Penn Radio‎:

     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 'beware of the monkeys.' So about ten of them circled my car. And this one special one, like he was the leader of the pack, jumped up on the hood and came right up to the windshield and looked in. So I was like making faces at him. [garbled] 'don't do that!' And believe it or not, he made like a face back. He jumped off the car. He took his fingernails and he peeled all the chrome on both sides of my car off. Picked it up, jumped on the hood, dropped it and left- looked at me and left.

10. (postpositive) Earlier, ago.
    • 1822, John Woods, Two Years' Residence in the Settlement on the English Prairie, in the Illinois Country, United States, page 138:

      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...

    We met many years back.

    I last saw him a day or two back.

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.

• spring forward, fall back

A Japanese man's tattooed back (late 19th century). The lower portion (below the waist sash) is generally known by other names, such as the "butt" or "backside".

A bodybuilder flexing her back muscles.

A Vietnamese woman in a backless outfit.

back (plural backs)

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?

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

     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 back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by.

   1. The spine and associated tissues.

      I hurt my back lifting those crates.

   2. (slang, uncountable) Large and attractive buttocks.
      • 1992, “Baby Got Back”, Sir Mix-A-Lot (lyrics):

        Take the average black man and ask him that.
        She gotta pack much back.

      • 2002, George Pelecanos, Right as Rain: A Novel, →ISBN, page 123:

        He got his hand on her behind and caressed her firm, ample flesh. […] "You got some back on you, girl."

   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.)
      • 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure:

        Do thou but think / What 'tis to cram a maw or clothe a back / From such a filthy vice

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.

      1. The edge of a book which is bound.

         The titles are printed on the backs of the books.

      2. (printing) The inside margin of a page.
         • 1841, William Savage, A Dictionary of the Art of Printing, Ayer Publishing, published 1965, →ISBN, page 472:

           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.

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

         Tap it with the back of your knife.

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

      I hung the clothes on the back of the door.

   3. Area behind, such as the backyard of a house.

      We'll meet out in the back of the library.

   4. The part of something that goes last.

      The car was near the back of the train.

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

      The backs were lined up in an I formation.

      • 2010 December 28, Kevin Darlin, “West Brom 1-3 Blackburn”, in BBC:

        […] 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.

3. (figuratively) 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.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]:

     This project / Should have a back or second, that might hold, / If this should blast in proof.

5. (nautical) The keel and keelson of a ship.

   The ship's back broke in the pounding surf.

6. (mining) The roof of a horizontal underground passage.
   • 1911, Robert Bruce Brinsmade, Mining Without Timber, page 161:

     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.

7. (slang, uncountable) 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.
   • 1848, Maine Supreme Judicial Court, Maine Reports, volume 6, page 397:

     […] as delivered by a tanner the average weight of a back and two strips would be about 42 pounds […].

10. (swimming) Clipping of backstroke.

• (side opposite the visible side): reverse
• (rear of the body): dorsum
• (bound edge of book): spine

• (antonym(s) of “side opposite the front or useful side”): front
• (antonym(s) of “that which is farthest away from the front”): front

• (lower rear of the body): See Thesaurus:buttocks

• (non-alcoholic drink): chaser

• bacon

back (third-person singular simple present backs, present participle backing, simple past and past participle backed)

1. (intransitive) To go in the reverse direction.

   the train backed into the station;  the horse refuses to back

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     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 so amazing that I couldn't help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it.

2. (transitive) To support.

   I back you all the way;  which horse are you backing in this race?

   • 2012 June 9, Owen Phillips, “Euro 2012: Netherlands 0-1 Denmark”, in BBC Sport:

     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

   • 2022 September 15, “China lodges complaint as U.S. Senate panel advances Taiwan bill”, in Reuters‎, archived from the original on 15 September 2022, Asia Pacific:

     The Senate Foreign Relations Committee backed the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022 by 17-5, despite concerns about the bill in U.S. President Joe Biden's administration and anger about the measure from Beijing.

3. (nautical, of the wind) To change direction contrary to the normal pattern; that is, to shift anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere, or clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
4. (nautical, of a square sail) To brace the yards so that the wind presses on the front of the sail, to slow the ship.
5. (nautical, of an anchor) To lay out a second, smaller anchor to provide additional holding power.
6. (UK, of a hunting dog) To stand still behind another dog which has pointed.
7. (transitive) To push or force backwards.

   to back oxen

   The mugger backed her into a corner and demanded her wallet.

   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 279:

     "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 block.

8. (transitive, obsolete) To get upon the back of; to mount.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     I will back him [a horse] straight.

   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     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 in its day.

9. (transitive, obsolete) To place or seat upon the back.
   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]:

     Great Jupiter, upon his eagle backed, / Appeared to me.

10. To make a back for; to furnish with a back.

    to back books

11. To adjoin behind; to be at the back of.
    • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

      He hath a garden circummured with brick,
      Whose western side is with a vineyard backed

    • 1877, Thomas Henry Huxley, Physiography: An Introduction to the Study of Nature:

      the chalk cliffs which back the beach

    • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

      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 in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

    • 1960 December, Voyageur, “The Mountain Railways of the Bernese Oberland”, in Trains Illustrated, page 752:

      So we continue climbing to the saddle of the Kleine Scheidegg, where ahead there comes into view the wide expanse of the Grindelwald valley, backed by the snowy crown of the Wetterhorn.

12. To write upon the back of, possibly as an endorsement.

    to back a letter;  to back a note or legal document

13. (law, of a justice of the peace) To sign or endorse (a warrant, issued in another county, to apprehend an offender).
14. To row backward with (oars).

    to back the oars

15. (MLE, transitive) To draw from behind the back [+accusative = a knife etc.] (as also back out).
    • 2017 August 4, “Sticks and Stones”‎performed by Zone 2 (Kwengface x Trizzac x PS):

      Sticks and Stones may break my bones
      Not when I back this botty

    • 2020 August 13, TwoLzz (lyrics and music), “TwentyTwo”‎, 1:14–1:18:

      When I back this blade, wallahi
      The hearts get beat like they just saw jihadi

16. (Nigeria, transitive) To carry an infant on one's back.

• (antonym(s) of “nautical: of the wind”): veer