backstay 
on each side of the ship to the chnin-platcs, 
serving to support the masts. Backstay-stools, 
planking <>i' pieces of irnn projecting from the siilc ui ;i 
ship, to which the hackstays arc matte fust. They sent- tin 
same purpose 1'nr UK- backstay* that the ehannelsdo (or the 
shrouds. Traveling backstays, backstays mted with 
a traveler which slides up and down with the topnQ-ysrd. 
Tile |iriiieipal support for the mast is thus Kept at tliat 
part which is just ahove the yard. [Not now in use. | 
back-step (bak'step), n. A rearward movement 
of a squad or body of troops, without change 
of front. 
backster't, SIT im.riir. 
backster- (bak'ster), n. [Etym. uncertain.] 
A flat piece of wood or cork fastened on the 
feet for walking over loose bearh. .V. !',. II. 
backstitch (bak'sticli), //. A method of sewing 
in whic-h each stitch overlaps or doubles back 
on the preceding one, the needle entering be- 
hind the thread at the end of the stitch already 
made and coining out in front of it. 
backstitch (bak'stich), c. t. and /'. To sew 
with stitches which overlap each other. See 
Inii'k.ititi'li, n. 
backstone (bak'ston), n. [E. dial., = haki:tlniii-, 
< hake 4- atom:] The heated stone on which 
oat-cake is baked. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.] 
back-stop (bak'stop), it. In bane-ball, a fence 
placed a short distance behind the catcher to 
stdji (lie ball if he fails to catch it. 
back-strap (bak'strap), ii. A broad strap pass- 
ing along the middle of a horse's back from the 
upper hame-strap to the crupper or a point of 
junction with the hip-straps in a wagon-har- 
ness, and in a carriage-harness from the gig- 
saddle to the crupper. K. II. Knit/lit. 
back-strapped (bak'strapt), p. <i. Carried by 
head-winds to the back of a cape or promontory : 
said of a ship. 
back-stream (bak'strSm), n. A current run- 
ning against the regular course of the stream ; 
an up-stream. 
back-string (bak'striiig), n. A leading-string 
by which a child is supported or guided from 
behind. 
The iHirk-xtriuii unit the liili. nvcyicr. Task, iv. 22$. 
back-stroke (bak'strok), . 1. A blow or 
stroke in return. 2. A backhanded stroke; 
a back-hander. 
My uncle Tnby never took this back-stroke of my father's 
at his hobby-horse kindly. 
Sternt, Tristram Shandy, vi. 31. 
back-swimmer (bak ' swim * er), . Same as 
bout-fly, 
back-SWOrd (bak'sord), n. 1. A sword with 
one sharp edge, used for cutting rather than 
thrusting, sometimes curved, and frequently 
straight. It usually had a basket-hilt, and wag the 
common weapon of citizens and country people when the 
rapier anil afterward the snmll-sword were worn by 
Kcntlemen. 
2. A cudgel fitted with a basket-hilt, used for 
a particular kind of single-stick play. 3. A 
cudgel-play in which the back-sword (in sense 
2) is used, peculiar to certain counties of Eng- 
land, and still kept up at festivals and the like 
in the attempt to preserve old customs. The 
guard is with the left arm, and the object of each player 
is to break the skiu of his adversary's forehead so as to 
draw blinnl. 
back-tack (bak'tak), . In Scots law, a tack 
or lease connected with wadsets or mortgages, 
by which the possession of the laud is returned 
to the proprietor on payment of a rent corre- 
sponding to the interest of the money advanced. 
See wadset. 
back-tool (bak'tol), re. Any tool, either fillet 
or roll, used by bookbinders in decorating the 
curved surface of the back of a book. 
back-trick t (bak'trik), . A caper backward in 
dancing. 
I have the fxn-k-trit-k simply as strong us any mall ill 
Illyria. NA.I*-., T. X.,i. 3. 
backward, backwards (bak'wiird, -wardz), 
adr. [< ME. bakward, bacivard, adv., by apher- 
esis for abackward, < abak, adv., back, 4- 
-irurd, -wards.} 1. In the direction of the back : 
as, to throw the arms backward. 2. With the 
back first in the direction of motion: as, to 
walk backward;'to fall liackiru rd . 
He [EH] fell from otf the seat Inekirunl, . . . and his 
neck brake. 1 Sam. iv. 18. 
Thou wilt fall Ixtrkminl. Shot., R. and J., L 3. 
3. In the direction from which one has come ; 
toward that which is or has been left behind : 
as, he glanced backward. 4. Toward bygone 
times or events; toward that which is past in 
time: as, to look backward to the last century. 
The lights of memory backward stream. 
'r, Memories. 
415 
5. In or by reflection; reflexively. 
The mind can bnrkrnti-n ca*l 
I p. .11 herself her tiiHlcrstaniliny light. 
>//'./. /Mn.x, Introd. to Immnrta]. "(Soul. 
6. In time past; ago. 
Some iviuns /*"/, /'(/</. /.-.-;,. 
7. In an opposite or contrary direction. 
Kor every two steps they made forwards and upwards 
they slipped uric Vrfl-//vm/x. 
/.</<// /;/"...</, Vovauc of Sunbeam, I. ii. 
8. In an opposite or reverse order; from tin- 
end toward the beginning; in an order contrary 
in the natural order: as, to read or spell back- 
iriird: hence, perversely; in a wrong or per- 
verse manner. 
I never yet saw man, 
Mow isc. how noble. young, how rarely fcatur'd, 
Itilt stie would spell him Imclcirii r<l. 
.-*-., Much Ado. iii. 1. 
The Kospel of Christ is read 'w/rA'/m ;</*, when that world 
uhich In- came to save is rcuarilcd as a world which it is 
a merit to abandon. 
i'. I-:. .V. ,,/.,, i. Travel and study in Italy, p. 47. 
9. From a better to a worse state ; retrogres- 
sively. 
The work went iHtrktcant ; and the more he stj-.vc 
T' advance the .suit, tlie farther from her love. 
Backward and forward, to ami fro. -To ring bells 
backward, to give an alarm by ringing the bells of a 
chime in the wron^ nnler, lie<.'iiining with the bass bell. 
The !({,< they i-in>i 1',1,-kicnril, the drums they are beat. 
Scott, lionnic Dundee. 
backward (back'ward), a. [< backward, adr.} 
1. Directed to the back or rear: as, ''a back- 
ward look," Shak., Sonnets, lix. 2. Keversed; 
returning; directed to or toward the original 
starting-point : as, a backward movement or 
journey. 
Anil now they do re-stem 
Their iKickimrd course. Shale., Othello, i. x 
3. Done in reverse order; done in an order 
contrary to the natural order, as in repeating 
a sentence from the end to the beginning. 
Without his rod reversed, 
And backward mutters of dissevering power, 
We cannot free the lady. Milton. Comus, 1. S17. 
4. Being in, or placed at, the back. 
Four legs and two voices. . . . His forward voice now 
is to speak well of his friend ; his backimrd voice is to 
utter foul speeches, and to detract. Shak., Tempest, ii. 2. 
5. Slow ; sluggish ; unprogressive ; unadvanced ; 
behind in progress: as, a backward learner. 
UriiMiidaue survives only in out-of-the-way corners of 
the most harkuwrd countries of Christendom, such as 
Spain and Sicily. J. Fitkr, Evolutionist, p. 229. 
6. Late ; behind in time ; coming after some- 
thing else, or after the usual time : as, backward 
f ruits ; the season is backtcard. 
A dry, cold, backward spring, easterly winds. 
Evelyn, Diary, April 15, 168s. 
7. Holding back; averse ;*reluctant ; hesitat- 
ing. 
The mind is backward to undergo the fatigue of weigh- 
ing every argument. Watt*. 
For wiser brutes were backimrd to be slaves. 
Popt, Windsor Forest, 1. 50. 
8. Timid; bashful; retiring in disposition; 
modest. 9. Reaching back into the past; 
already past. 
Flies unconscious o'er each backward year. 
Byron, Childe Harold, ii. 24. 
backward! (bak'ward), n. [< backward, n.} 
The things or state behind or past. 
What see'st thou else 
In the dark backward and abysm of time? 
Shak., Tempest, i. 2. 
backward! (bak'wiird), f. t. [< backward, adr.} 
To obstruct; keep'back; retard; delay. 
Doth clog and backmird us. Uatiimond, Sermons, xv. 
backwardation (bak-wiir-da'shgn), n. [< back- 
ward, t\, + -ation.} On the London Stock Ex- 
change, the premium paid by a seller of stock 
for the privilege of postponing its delivery to 
the buyer until the next fortnightly settling- 
day. See contango. 
backwardljr (bak'ward-li), adr. 1. In a back- 
ward direction. 
The mandible is extremely massive and has a badnrardly 
produced angle. Huxlfy, Auat. Vert., p. :>. 
2. Unwillingly; reluctantly; aversely; per- 
versely; ill. 
I was the first man 
That e'er receiv'd gift from him ; 
And does he think so backipardly of me now, 
That I'll requite it last? Shak., T. of A., iii. 3. 
backwardness (bak'wiird-nes), . The state 
or quality of being backward, (n) Backward state 
us regards progress; slowness; tardiness; as, the back. 
Baconian 
irnnliifM nl the spring, (fc) rnwillimni'-Mi; reluctance; 
dilatoriness or dullness in actinn. 
i inr '"i.'l. " <n-'l /<ry\ to yoo.l storks. /,'/< ,\lf- ri>ifi-'i 
'.fulness ; sit 1 , ' 
backwards, adr. Sec badevard'. 
back-washed (bak'woslit), a. Cleansed from 
oil. as wool after combing. 
back-water (bak'wa ti'-r), //. If. Water flow- 
ing in IV In-hind. 2. Water thrown back by 
the turning of a water-wheel or tin- paddles of 
steamboats, etc. 3. Water held or forced 
back, as in a mill-race or in n tributary stream, 
in consequence of some obstruction, as a dam 
or flood. 4. An artificial accumulation of wa- 
ter obtained at high tide and reserved in reser- 
voirs, to be discharged at low tide for clearing 
off deposits in clianin-1-bi-ds and tideways. 5. 
A creek or arm of the sea which runs parallel 
to the coast, having only a narrow .slip of land 
between it and the sen, and communicating 
with the latter by barred entrances. 
Ij it ci in- the mouth of the Mnrolali. an c \tensi\c '."/, - 
irnti'i- into which fall the Piri-IIa/jiar and other streams. 
' 00 alongside a fairly constructed quay. 
O'Diiimrnii. \lerv, \iii. 
backwood (bak'wud), ii. That portion of a 
carpenter's plane which is immediately behind 
the plane-iron.- To drive tne backwood up. t,, 
drive the wedge of a plane too tightly. When this Isaone 
the pressure of the plane-iron raises a bur or slight ridge 
at the angle of the mouth and sole. 
backwoods (bak'wudz' ), n. ]>l. Wooded or par- 
tially uncleared and unsettled districts in the 
remote parts of a new country ; hence, in the 
United States and Canada, any rough or thin- 
ly settled region far from the centers of popu- 
lation. 
The very ease with which books containing the worlds 
best literature were obtainable in the backu-u<nl* made our 
early writers copyists. .SV<-</m, Poets of America, p. 14. 
He [fount Tolstoi] put into my hands a letter from some 
man living in a village in the Itarkiroodn of Pennsylvania. 
The Century, XXXIV. 261. 
backwoodsman (bak'wudz'man), M. ; pi. back- 
ir/iuilx/iii n (-men). An inhabitant of the back- 
woods. 
The General Boone, twkicooilHiiian of Kentucky, 
Was happiest among mortals anywhere. 
Byron, Don Juan, \ iii. 01. 
backworm (bak'werm), n. A small worm gen- 
erally found in the thin skin about the reins of 
hawks. Qeejilander 1 . 
backwort (bak'w6rt), n. The comfrey, tiym- 
ftttijtunt officiiiale. 
back-wounding (bak'w6n"ding), a. Wounding 
at the back or Dehind one's back; backbiting; 
injuring surreptitiously: as, "backicoundiny 
calumny," Shak., M. for M., iii. 2. 
bacon (ba'kon or -ku), n. [Early mod. E. also 
bakon, bakeii, < ME. bacon, bacoun, bakoun, < 
OF. bacon = Pr. bacon, < ML. baco(n-), bacon, 
side of bacon, shoulder, ham, also a swine, < 
OHG. bahho, bacho, MHG. bache, side of bacon, 
ham, G. bacJie, a wild sow (obs. or dial., a ham), 
= MD. bake, bacon, ham, a swine, < OHG. *6a/i, 
etc., = AS. IMC, E. back 1 : see back 1 .'] 1. Hog's 
flesh, especially the back and sides, salted or 
pickled and dried, usually in smoke. 2t. Pork. 
3f. A hog; hence, a grossly fat person. 4f. 
A rustic : a clown : in allusion to the fact that 
swine's flesh was the meat chiefly eaten by the 
rural population. 2f. E. I). 
On, bacon*, on ! Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 2. 
To save one's bacon, to preserve one's self from harm. 
But here I say the Turks were much mistaken, 
Who, hating hogs, yet wished in saix their baron. 
fit/roil, Don Juan, vii. 42. 
bacon-beetle (ba'kon-be'tl), H. A species of 
the genus Dermestes, D. lardarius, family Dcr- 
titestida;, order Cole- 
optera, whose larvae 
are very destructive 
to stuffed animals 
in museums. The 
larvB are hairy, and 
whitish-brown in 
color. 
Baconian (ba-kd'ni- 
an), a. and n. [< 
Francis Bacon, born 
1561,diedl626.]I.a. 
Pertaining to Fran- 
cis Bacon, Baron 
Verulam, commonly 
called Lord Bacon : 
as, the Baconian phi- 
losophy. Baconian 
method, a term often. ^^ ,, 
though incorrectly, ap- , be ctlc Hair lin show natural 
plied to the method of sizes.) 
