Back

adjective more back · most back

1. not comparable, usually At or near the rear. Go in the back door of the house.
2. not comparable, predicative, usually Returned or restored to a previous place or condition. He was on vacation, but now he’s back.
3. not comparable, usually Not current. I’d like to find a back issue of that magazine.
4. not comparable, usually Situated away from the main or most frequented areas. They took a back road.
5. not comparable, usually In arrears; overdue. They still owe three months’ back rent.
6. not comparable, usually Moving or operating backward. back action
7. comparable, not comparable, usually 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.

adverb further back · farther back · furthest back · farthest back

1. not comparable To or in a previous condition or place. He gave back the money.
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.
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.
4. Towards, into or in the past. These records go back years.
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 (of something or someone). Sit all the way back in your chair.
7. So as to shrink, recede or move aside, or cause to do so. This tree is dying back.
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.
10. postpositional Earlier, ago. We met many years 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.

noun backs

1. countable, uncountable 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?
2. countable, uncountable The spine and associated tissues. I hurt my back lifting those crates.
3. slang, uncountable Large and attractive buttocks. Take the average black man and ask him that. She gotta pack much back.
4. countable, figuratively, uncountable The part of a piece of clothing which covers the back. I still need to finish the back of your dress.
5. countable, uncountable The backrest, the part of a piece of furniture which receives the human back. Can you fix the back of this chair?
6. countable, obsolete, uncountable 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
7. countable, uncountable That which is farthest away from the front. He sat in the back of the room.
8. countable, uncountable The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side. Turn the book over and look at the back.
9. countable, uncountable The edge of a book which is bound. The titles are printed on the backs of the books.
10. countable, uncountable 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.
11. countable, uncountable The side of a blade opposite the side used for cutting. Tap it with the back of your knife.
12. countable, uncountable The reverse side; the side that is not normally seen. I hung the clothes on the back of the door.
13. countable, uncountable 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.
14. countable, uncountable The part of something that goes last. The car was near the back of the train.
15. countable, uncountable In some team sports, a position behind most players on the team. The backs were lined up in an I formation.
16. countable, figuratively, uncountable 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.
17. countable, uncountable A support or resource in reserve. This project / Should have a back or second, that might hold, / If this should blast in proof.
18. countable, uncountable The keel and keelson of a ship. The ship’s back broke in the pounding surf.
19. countable, uncountable 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.
20. slang, uncountable Effort, usually physical. Put some back into it!
21. countable, uncountable 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?
22. countable, uncountable 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[…].
23. abbreviation, clipping, countable, uncountable Clipping of backstroke.backstroke

Similar: reverse, dorsum

verb backs · backing · backed

1. intransitive To go in the reverse direction. The train backed into the station.
2. transitive To support. I back you all the way.
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. UK To stand still behind another dog which has pointed.
7. transitive To push or force backwards. to back oxen
8. obsolete, transitive To get upon the back of; to mount. I will back him [a horse] straight.
9. obsolete, transitive To place or seat upon the back. 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. He hath a garden circummured with brick, Whose western side is with a vineyard backed
12. To write upon the back of, possibly as an endorsement. to back a letter;  to back a note or legal document
13. 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. Multicultural London English, transitive To draw from behind the back (a knife etc.) (as also back out). Sticks and Stones may break my bones Not when I back this botty
16. Nigeria, transitive To carry an infant on one’s back.

noun backs

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.

proper noun

1. A surname.
2. A settlement on the Isle of Lewis, Western Isles council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NB4840).