back
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /bæk/
ipa: [bæk]
ipa: [bak]
ipa: [-k̚]
ipa: [-ˀk]
note: Liverpool
ipa: [bax]
ipa: [bak]
ipa: [bäk]
rhymes: -æk
Forms: form: backs
Etymology: 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]”).
Senses: examples: text: Could you please scratch my back?
text: 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.
ref: 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
glosses: The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.
examples: text: I hurt my back lifting those crates.
glosses: The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.
The spine and associated tissues.
examples: text: Take the average black man and ask him that.
She gotta pack much back.
ref: 1992, “Baby Got Back”, Sir Mix-A-Lot (lyrics):
text: He got his hand on her behind and caressed her firm, ample flesh.[…]“You got some back on you, girl.”
ref: 2002, George Pelecanos, Right as Rain: A Novel, →ISBN, page 123:
text: Back so big, look like your jeans shrunk in the wash / And we don't really need Netflix, I'mma give you something to watch
ref: 2016 February 14, Joseph Adenuga, Darren Dixon, Tariq Devega, “Ladies Hit Squad” (track 6), in Konnichiwa, performed by Skepta ft. D Double E and ASAP Nast, Boy Better Know:
glosses: The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.
Large and attractive buttocks.
examples: text: I still need to finish the back of your dress.
glosses: The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.
The part of a piece of clothing which covers the back.
examples: text: Can you fix the back of this chair?
glosses: The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.
The backrest, the part of a piece of furniture which receives the human back.
examples: text: Do thou but think / What ’tis to cram a maw or clothe a back / From such a filthy vice
ref: 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure:
glosses: The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.
That part of the body that bears clothing. (Now used only in the phrase clothes on one's back.)
examples: text: He sat in the back of the room.
glosses: That which is farthest away from the front.
examples: text: Turn the book over and look at the back.
glosses: That which is farthest away from the front.
The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side.
examples: text: The titles are printed on the backs of the books.
glosses: That which is farthest away from the front.
The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side.
The edge of a book which is bound.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1841, William Savage, A Dictionary of the Art of Printing, Ayer Publishing, published 1965, →ISBN, page 472:
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: That which is farthest away from the front.
The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side.
The inside margin of a page.
examples: text: Tap it with the back of your knife.
glosses: That which is farthest away from the front.
The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side.
The side of a blade opposite the side used for cutting.
examples: text: I hung the clothes on the back of the door.
glosses: That which is farthest away from the front.
The reverse side; the side that is not normally seen.
examples: text: We’ll meet out in the back of the library.
text: Are you sure you're totally out of hair gel? Could you please check in the back?
glosses: That which is farthest away from the front.
Area behind, such as the backyard of a house or the rear storeroom of a retail store.
examples: text: The car was near the back of the train.
glosses: That which is farthest away from the front.
The part of something that goes last.
examples: text: The backs were lined up in an I formation.
text: […]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.
ref: 2010 December 28, Kevin Darlin, “West Brom 1-3 Blackburn”, in BBC:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: That which is farthest away from the front.
In some team sports, a position behind most players on the team.
examples: text: The small boat raced over the backs of the waves.
glosses: The upper part of a natural object which is considered to resemble an animal’s back.
examples: text: This project / Should have a back or second, that might hold, / If this should blast in proof.
ref: 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]:
glosses: A support or resource in reserve.
examples: text: The ship’s back broke in the pounding surf.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: The keel and keelson of a ship.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1911, Robert Bruce Brinsmade, Mining Without Timber, page 161:
topics: business
mining
glosses: The roof of a horizontal underground passage.
examples: text: Put some back into it!
glosses: Effort, usually physical.
examples: text: Could I get a martini with a water back?
glosses: A non-alcoholic drink (often water or a soft drink), to go with hard liquor or a cocktail.
examples: text: […]as delivered by a tanner the average weight of a back and two strips would be about 42 pounds[…].
ref: 1848, Maine Supreme Judicial Court, Maine Reports, volume 6, page 397:
glosses: Among leather dealers, one of the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
swimming
glosses: Clipping of backstroke.
Synonyms: sense: side opposite the visible side
word: reverse
sense: rear of the body
word: dorsum
sense: bound edge of book
word: spine
Hyponyms: sense: lower rear of the body
word: buttocks
Coordinate terms: sense: non-alcoholic drink
word: chaser
Derived terms: sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: aback
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: A-back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: abackward
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: arrowback
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: assback
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: backache
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: backake
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: backaching
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: back actor
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: back against the wall
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: back and edge
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: back biter
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: back day
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: back extension
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: backhoe
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: back-of-an-envelope
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: back-of-the-envelope
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: back-pad
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: back squat
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: backward
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: big back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: blow someone's back out
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: boostback
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: break one's arm patting oneself on the back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: break one's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: break someone's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: caseback
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: Chinaman on one's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: could be written on the back of a postage stamp
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: could fit on the back of a postage stamp
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: cover one's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: cover someone's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: defensive back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: does Dolly Parton sleep on her back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: fall off the back of a lorry
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: fall off the back of a truck
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: flat on one's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: get someone's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: have eyes in the back of one's head
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: have got someone's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: have one's back up
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: have someone's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: h-back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: hingeback
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: hinged-back tortoise
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: horseback
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: houseback
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: humpback
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: hunchback
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: inch back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: key back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: like water off a duck's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: make a stick for one's own back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: Mediterranean back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: monkey on one's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: mossback
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: mossyback
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: muleback
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: nickel back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: no skin off one's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: off one's own back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: one's back is up
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: on one's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: on someone's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: open-back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: pain in the back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: pat on the back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: rod for one's own back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: scratch someone's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: the back of
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: shanty back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: slap on the back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: stab in the back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: stab-in-the-back myth
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: sticky-back plastic
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: stringbacks
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: take someone out back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: the shirt off one's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: the straw that broke the camel's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: turn one's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: turtle-back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: upon the back of
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: watch one's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: water off a duck's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: wing back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: wing-back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: wingback
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: with one arm tied behind one's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: with one hand tied behind one's back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: wooley back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: woolly back
sense: terms derived from the noun "back"
word: you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours
Related terms: bacon