back 
or understood; backward: as, to bend back 
one's finger ; to force back the bolt of a door. 
The angel of the Lord . . . came ami rolled textile 
stone from the door. >lat - Bwtt '-. 
5. To or toward times or things past; back- 
ward in time : as, to look lack on former ages. 
Oh, that constant Time 
Would but go back a week ! 
Fletcher (and another), Love s Cure, v. 6. 
Volumes of this form dated back two hundred years or 
more . Ilaietlmnu; Old Manse. 
The existence of this language [Singhalese ] lias been taken 
buck ut least two thousand years by the inscriptions found 
by Goldschmidt of the Archaeological Survey. 
R. K. Cunt, Mod. Lang. E. Indies, p. 62. 
6. From the proper destination or purpose: 
as, to keep bach despatches. 
A certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, 
sold a possession, and kept back part of the price. 
Acts v. 1, 2. 
7. Away from an undertaking, engagement, or 
promise. 
I've been surprised in an unguarded hour, 
But must not now go back. Addison. 
8. In a position of retirement or withdrawal ; 
off; aloof: absolutely or with from: as, the 
house stands a little back from the road. 
Somewhat back from the village street 
Stands the old-fashioned country-seat. 
Longfellow, Old Clock. 
9. Behind in position, literally or figuratively, 
or as regards progress made : absolutely or 
witho/: as, the hills back of the town; the feel- 
ing back of his words; a few pages back. 
10. Past in time; ago; since: as, a little back. 
[Colloq.] 
This precaution, still more salutary than offensive, has 
for some years back been omitted. 
Quoted in If. and Q., 7th ser., II. 106. 
11. Again; in return: as, to answer back; to 
pay back a loan. 
"Kuth daughter Ruth ! " the outlaw shrieks, 
But no sound eomes back he is standing alone. 
Whittier, Mogg Megone, i. 
To and backt, forward and backward ; to and fro. 
This common body, 
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream, 
Goes to ana back, lackeying the varying tide. 
Shak., A. and C., 1. 4. 
To beat, draw, fall, hang, etc., back. See the verbs. 
back 1 (bak), v. [In senses I., 1-8, < back 1 , n. ; 
in senses I., 9-11, and II., < ftacfc 1 , adv.] I. 
trans. 1. To furnish with a back or backing; 
strengthen or support at the back : as, to back 
a book ; to back an electrotype-plate ; to back 
the armor-plates of a war-vessel with teak. 
2f. To cover the back of ; clothe. 
To breke beggeris bred and bakken hem with clothis. 
Piers Plowman (A), xi. 185. 
3. To support or aid, as with practical assist- 
ance, money, authority, influence, etc. ; second 
or strengthen ; reinforce : often with up : as, 
in his efforts he was backed by many influen- 
tial men ; he backed up his argument with a bet. 
Success still follows him and backs his crimes. 
Addison. 
The men of the northern Danelaw found themselves 
backed, not only by their brethren from Ireland, but by 
the mass of states around them. 
J. R. Green, Conq. of Eng., p. 243. 
Hence 4. In sporting, to recognize and sup- 
port by standing or dropping: said of dogs 
which follow the lead of a dog on point. 
Both dogs went off finely ; soon after being put down 
Foreman pointed and was backed by Gath. 
Forest atul Stream, XXI. 418. 
5. To act or wager in favor of; express con- 
fidence in the success or superiority of : as, to 
back a horse in a race, or one of the parties in 
an argument. 
I back him at a rebus or a charade against the best 
rhymer in the kingdom. 
Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 1. 
They [Bedouins] are fond of backing themselves with 
wagers, and will shoot for a sheep, the loser inviting his 
friends to a feast. R. F. Burton, El-Medinah, p. 338. 
6. To get upon the back of; mount: as, to 
back a horse. 
We botli will back the winds, 
And hunt the phtenix through the Arabian deserts. 
Shirley, Grateful Servant, iv. 5. 
And he has reached the northern plain, 
And backed his fire-fly steed again. 
J. R. Drake, Culprit Fay, p. 59. 
7. To write something on the back of ; address, 
as a letter; indorse. 8. To lie at the back 
of ; adjoin in the rear ; form a back or back- 
ground to. 
That length of cloistral roof, 
Peering in air and backed by azure sky. 
Wordsworth, Near Aquapendente. 
412 
That snug and comfortable retreat which generally back* 
the warerooms of an English tradesman. ootwr. 
9. To carry on the back. [Colloq.] 
If the men are expected to back the traps for any consid- 
erable distance, the only admissible articles are, etc. 
R. B. Roosevelt, Game-Fish, p. 300. 
10. To cause to move backward ; propel back- 
ward : as, to back a horse ; to back a boat. 
11. To reverse the action of: as, to back 
a stationary engine. 12. In coal-mining, to 
throw back into the gob or waste, as the small 
slack made in holing or undercutting the 
coal. Qresley. [Leicestershire, Eng.] To back 
a chain or rope, to attach a preventer to it so as to 
reduce the strain upon it. To back an anchor. See 
anchurl, n.To back a sail, to brace the yards so 
that the wind will press on the forward surface of the 
gail, To back a warrant, to sign or indorse a warrant 
issued in another county to apprehend an offender. To 
back (a spindle) Off, in cotton-spinning, to reverse the 
motion of mule-spindles at the end of a stretch, in un- 
winding the last few coils of the thread about the cop, in 
order to prepare for its proper distribution upon the cop 
when the mule-carriage returns. To back the oars, to 
row backward so as to check the boat's headway or to gain 
backbone 
back-balance (bak'bal"ans). n. A weight used 
as a counterbalance for an eccentric, or an ec- 
centric pulley or gear. 
back-band (bak'band), n. A broad strap or 
chain passing over the saddle of a cart- or car- 
riage-horse, and used to support the shafts. 
Called in Scotland a rigiriddie. 
back-bar (bak'bar), n. The horizontal bar in 
the old English open fireplace, on which the 
heavy kettle was hung over the fire. 
backbeart (bak'bar), . In old Eng. forest law, 
the act of carrying on the back venison killed 
illegally. See backcarry. 
backbite (bak'bit), .;'pret. backbit, pp. back- 
liittni, biH-kbit, ppr. backbiting. [< ME. bak- 
b/ti'ii, earlier bacbiten (= Icel. bakbita (Haldor- 
sen), appar. from E.), < bac, bak, n.,the back, 
or, more prob., < bak, adv. (though this, the 
apheretie form of abak, aback, is not found in 
ME. except in conip. and deriv.), + bittn, bite: 
see back 1 and bite.] I. tram. To injure moral- 
ly in a manner comparable to biting from be- 
" ; attack the character or reputation of se- 
' vil of in 
ing the surface even. To back up. (a) To lend support, 
aid, or assistance to ; stand by ; give countenance to : as, 
to back up one's friends. (6) To move or force backward : 
as, to back up a carriage, (c) To reverse, as an engine or 
a press, (d) In electrotyping, to strengthen, as the thin 
shell or electroplate obtained from a wax mold of a form 
of type, an engraved plate, etc., by depositing upon its 
back type-metal to a certain thickness, (e) In base-ball 
and similar games, to stand behind, as another player, in 
order to stop and return any balls that may pass him : as, 
the center-field backs up the second-base. To back 
water to propel a boat in the opposite direction to that 
in which the prow is pointed, by reversing the action of 
the rowing in the case of a rowboat, or of the machinery 
in the case of a steamboat. 
II. intrans. [< back*, adv.] 1. To move or 
go backward: as, the horse backed; the train 
backed. 2. To move in the reverse direction: 
said specifically of the wind, in contradistinc- 
tion to Itaul (which see), when it changes in a 
manner contrary to the usual circuit, in the 
northern hemisphere, on the polar side of the trade-winds, 
the usual circuit of changes in the wind is from east by 
the south to west, and so on to the north. In the same 
latitudes in the southern hemisphere the reverse usually 
takes place. The backing of the wind is regarded as an 
indication of bad weather. To back and fill, (a) To get 
a square-rigged vessel to windward in a narrow channel, 
when the wind is against the tide and there is no room for 
tacking, by alternately filling and backing the sails so as 
to make the ship shoot from one side of the channel to 
astern. See astern. To back down, to recede from a 
position ; abandon an argument or opinion ; give in. To 
back out, to retreat from a difficulty or withdraw from 
an' engagement. 
back 2 t, The earlier form of bat 2 . 
back 3 (bak), TO. [< D. bak, a bowl, tray, = 
Dan. bakke, a tray, < F. bac, a trough, basin, 
a brewer's or distiller's back, also a ferry- 
boat; cf. Bret, bak, bag, a boat, ML. bacus, 
baccus, a ferry-boat, bacca, a bowl ('vas aqua- 
rium'); origin uncertain. Cf. basin, from the 
same source.] 1. A large flat-bottomed fer- 
ry-boat, especially one adapted for carrying 
vehicles, and worked by a chain or rope fas- 
tened on each side of the stream. 2. A large 
cistern or vat used by brewers, distillers, dyers, 
etc., for holding liquids; a large tub or trough. 
3. A kind of wooden trough for holding or 
carrying fuel, ashes, etc. ; a coal-scuttle : com- 
monly in the diminutive form bakey. [Scotch.] 
Narrowly escaping breaking my shins on a turf back. 
Scott, Rob Roy, III. 13. 
, n. Any dull or continuous 
And eke the verse of famous Poets witt 
He does backebite. Spenser, F. Q., I. iv. 32. 
Most untruelye and maliciously doe these evill tonges 
backbite and slaunder the sacred ashes of that personage. 
Spenser, State of Ireland. 
II. intrans. To slander or speak evil of the 
absent. 
To be prynces in pryde and pouerte to dispise, 
To bakbite, and to bosten and here fals witnesse. 
Piers Plowman (B), ii. 80. 
He that backbiteth not with his tongue. Ps. xv. 3. 
They are arrant knaves, and will backbite. 
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., v. i. 
backbiter (bak'bl'ter), n. One who slanders, 
calumniates, or speaks ill of the absent. 
Satirists describe the age, and backbiters assign their de- 
scriptions to private men. Steele, Tatler, No. 242. 
Nine tithes of times 
Face-flatterers and backbiters are the same. 
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien. 
backbiting (bak'bi"ting), n. [ME. bacbiting, 
baebitung; verbal n. of backbite.] The act of 
slandering the absent ; secret calumny. 
Envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings. 
2 Cor. xii. 20. 
backbitingly (bak'bi'ting-li), adv. With back- 
biting. 
back-block (bak'blok), n. In piano-making, see 
wrest-block. 
backboard (bak'bord), n. [< back 1 , n., + board. 
The AS. bo-chord (= D. LG. bakboord (> G. back- 
bord, P. babord) = Dan. bagbord = Icel. bak- 
bordh, also bakbordhi) means 'larboard.'] A 
board for the back ; a board placed at the back 
or serving as the back of something. Specifically 
(a) A board placed across the stern-sheets of a boat to sup- 
port the backs of the occupants, (b) A small strip of wood 
used to support the back and give erectness to the figure. 
A careful and undeviating use of the backboard ... is 
recommended as necessary to the acquirement of that 
dignified deportment and carriage so requisite for every 
young lady of fashion. Thackeray, 
(c) A board used in a lathe to sustain the pillars support- 
ing the puppet-bar, (d) In English [Yorkshire] coal-min- 
ing, a thirl or cross-hole communicating with the return 
air-course. Orealey. 
back-bond (bak'bond), n. In Scots law, a deed 
attaching a qualification or condition to the 
terms of a conveyance or other ^ 
backache-brake (bak'ak-brak), n. A name of 
the lady-fern, Asplenium Filix-f&mina. 
backache-root (bak'ak-rot), n. The button 
snakeroot, Liatris spicata. 
back-action (bak'ak'shon), a. In marine engin., 
having the conhections'between the piston-rod 
and crank reversed: as, a back-action steam- 
engine. See action. 
backarack, n. See Bacharach. 
backaret, interj. [Perhaps for back there. The 
spelling baccare, orig. bacare, in the passage of 
Shakspere has led to the fancy that the word 
is dog-Latin, based on E. back.] Stand back! 
go back! 
Ah, backare, quod Mortimer to his sowe. 
Udall, Roister Doister. 
Backare, quoth Mortimer to his sow, see 
Mortimer's sow speaketh as good Latyn as hee. 
Heywood. 
(A proverbial saying, derived apparently from some local 
anecdote.] 
Baccare ! you are marvellous forward. 
Shak., T, of the S., ii. 1. 
middle line of the back; the 
spine; the vertebral column; 
the vertebras collectively. 2. 
Something resembling a back- 
bone in appearance, position, 
or office : as, the Apennines are 
the backbone of Italy. 
The plutocrats, shippers, merchants 
and others who are the backbone of the 
Conservative party. 
R. J. llinton, Eng. Had. Leaders, 
[p. 202. 
3. Figuratively, firmness; sta- 
bility of purpose; decision of 
character; resolution; moral 
principle. 
The civilization is cheap and weak 
which has not the backbone of con- 
science in it. 
J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, p. 202. 
Backbone of an awning, a rope 
sewed to the middle of a ship s awning, 
and extending fore and aft, to strength- 
en it and afford it support. To the 
SI 
Human Backbone. 
C.i, first cervical 
vertebra ; D.i, first 
dorsal vertebra; L.I, 
first lumbar vertebra ; 
5.i, first sacral ver- 
tebra; Co.i, first coc- 
cygeal vertebra. 
