Etimology
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]”).
adjective
back (not generally comparable, comparative more back, superlative most back)
At or near the rear.
(predicative) Returned or restored to a previous place or condition.
Not current.
Situated away from the main or most frequented areas.
In arrears; overdue.
Moving or operating backward.
(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).
Examples
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, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.
He was on vacation, but now he’s back.
The office fell into chaos when you left, but now order is back.
I’d like to find a back issue of that magazine.
They took a back road.
He lives out in the back country.
They still owe three months' back rent.
back action
The vowel of lot has a back vowel in most dialects of England.
Related words
synonyms
(near the rear): rear
(not current): former, previous
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "near the rear"): front
(antonym(s) of "not current"): current
(antonym(s) of "away from the main area"): main (of roads)
adverb
back (comparative further back, superlative furthest back)
(not comparable) To or in a previous condition or place.
In a direction opposite to that in which someone or something is facing or normally pointing.
In a direction opposite to the usual or desired direction of movement or progress, physically or figuratively.
So as to reverse direction and return.
Towards, into or in the past.
Away from someone or something; at a distance.
Away from the front or from an edge.
So as to shrink, recede or move aside, or cause to do so.
In a manner that impedes.
(not comparable) In a reciprocal manner; in return.
(postpositive) Earlier, ago.
To a later point in time. See also put back.
Examples
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.
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.
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.
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.
The light bounces back off the mirror.
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.
Keep back! It could explode at any moment!
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 all blazing with lights. 'Twas the house I'd seen the roof of from the beach.
This tree is dying back.
Clear back all this vegetation.
Draw back the curtains and let in some light.
Fear held him back.
If you hurt me, I'll hurt you back.
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.
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.
The meeting has been moved back an hour. It was at 3 o'clock; now it's at 4 o'clock.
noun
back (plural backs)
The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.
That which is farthest away from the front.
(figuratively) Upper part of a natural object which is considered to resemble an animal's back.
A support or resource in reserve.
(nautical) The keel and keelson of a ship.
(mining) The roof of a horizontal underground passage.
(slang, uncountable) Effort, usually physical.
A non-alcoholic drink (often water or a soft drink), to go with hard liquor or a cocktail.
Among leather dealers, one of the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
(swimming) Clipping of backstroke.
Examples
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 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.
I hurt my back lifting those crates.
Take the average black man and ask him that.She gotta pack much back.
He got his hand on her behind and caressed her firm, ample flesh. […] "You got some back on you, girl."
I still need to finish the back of your dress.
Can you fix the back of this chair?
Do thou but think / What 'tis to cram a maw or clothe a back / From such a filthy vice
He sat in the back of the room.
Turn the book over and look at the back.
The titles are printed on the backs of the books.
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.
Tap it with the back of your knife.
I hung the clothes on the back of the door.
We'll meet out in the back of the library.
The car was near the back of the train.
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.
The small boat raced over the backs of the waves.
This project / Should have a back or second, that might hold, / If this should blast in proof.
The ship's back broke in the pounding surf.
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.
Put some back into it!
Could I get a martini with a water back?
[…] as delivered by a tanner the average weight of a back and two strips would be about 42 pounds […].
Related words
synonyms
(side opposite the visible side): reverse
(rear of the body): dorsum
(bound edge of book): spine
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "side opposite the front or useful side"): front
(antonym(s) of "that which is farthest away from the front"): front
hyponyms
(lower rear of the body): See Thesaurus:buttocks
coordinate terms
(non-alcoholic drink): chaser
related terms
bacon
verb
back (third-person singular simple present backs, present participle backing, simple past and past participle backed)
(intransitive) To go in the reverse direction.
(transitive) To support.
(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.
(nautical, of a square sail) To brace the yards so that the wind presses on the front of the sail, to slow the ship.
(nautical, of an anchor) To lay out a second, smaller anchor to provide additional holding power.
(UK, of a hunting dog) To stand still behind another dog which has pointed.
(transitive) To push or force backwards.
(transitive, obsolete) To get upon the back of; to mount.
(transitive, obsolete) To place or seat upon the back.
To make a back for; to furnish with a back.
To adjoin behind; to be at the back of.
To write upon the back of, possibly as an endorsement.
(law, of a justice of the peace) To sign or endorse (a warrant, issued in another county, to apprehend an offender).
To row backward with (oars).
(MLE, transitive) To draw from behind the back [+accusative = a knife etc.] (as also back out).
(Nigeria, transitive) To carry an infant on one's back.
Examples
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 so amazing that I couldn't help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it.
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
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.
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 block.
I will back him [a horse] straight.
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.
Great Jupiter, upon his eagle backed, / Appeared to me.
to back books
He hath a garden circummured with brick,Whose western side is with a vineyard backed
the chalk cliffs which back the beach
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.
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.
to back a letter; to back a note or legal document
to back the oars
Sticks and Stones may break my bonesNot when I back this botty
When I back this blade, wallahiThe hearts get beat like they just saw jihadi
Related words
antonyms
(antonym(s) of "nautical: of the wind"): veer
Etimology
Borrowed from French bac.
noun
back (plural backs)
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.
A ferryboat.