Pronunciations (7)
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/bæk/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
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[bæk]
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
-
[bak]
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
-
[bax]
-
[bak]
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- Scotland
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[bäk]
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- Scotland
-
[be̞k]
Pronunciation notes
- New-Zealand
Adjective
At or near the rear.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
Go in the back door of the house.
More examples (1)
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.
Returned or restored to a previous place or condition.
Usage- not-comparable
- predicative
- usually
- Examples
-
He was on vacation, but now he’s back.
The office fell into chaos when you left, but now order is back.
Not current.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
I’d like to find a back issue of that magazine.
Situated away from the main or most frequented areas.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
They took a back road.
He lives out in the back country.
More examples (1)
It's OK that the highway is jammed, because I know a back way. It's another good way to get there.
In arrears; overdue.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
They still owe three months’ back rent.
Several of the former Hotel York workers have filed with the California Labor Division to collect what they feel is owed them in the way of back overtime.
Moving or operating backward.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
back action
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).
Usage- comparable
- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
The vowel of lot has a back vowel in most dialects of England.
Adverb
To or in a previous condition or place.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
-
He gave back the money.
I left my mobile phone back at the hotel. I’ll have to go back and get it.
More examples (2)
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.
In a direction opposite to that in which someone or something is facing or normally pointing.
- Examples
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Someone pushed me in the chest and I fell back.
The grandfather clock toppled back and crashed to the ground.
More examples (1)
Her arm was bent back at an odd angle.
In a direction opposite to the usual or desired direction of movement or progress, physically or figuratively.
- Examples
-
Wind the film back a few frames.
Don’t forget to put the clocks back by one hour tonight!
More examples (1)
This mishap has set the project back considerably.
Towards, into or in the past.
- Examples
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These records go back years.
He built a time machine and travelled back to 1800.
More examples (2)
Think back to how you felt last year.
Everything was simpler back in the old days.
Away from someone or something; at a distance.
- Examples
-
Keep back! It could explode at any moment!
Away from the front or from an edge (of something or someone).
- Examples
-
Sit all the way back in your chair.
Step back from the curb.
More examples (2)
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.
Back of the man, straightening himself while the withdrawing water swirled about his ankles, mounted the next incoming wave.
So as to shrink, recede or move aside, or cause to do so.
- Examples
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This tree is dying back.
Clear back all this vegetation.
More examples (1)
Draw back the curtains and let in some light.
In a manner that impedes.
- Examples
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Fear held him back.
In a reciprocal manner; in return.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
-
If you hurt me, I’ll hurt you back.
The light bounces back off the mirror.
More examples (2)
"How is it, comrades?" the admiral shouted through a bullhorn at each ship. "Rah, rah, rah!" the sailors shouted back in unison.
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.
Earlier, ago.
Usage- postpositional
- Examples
-
We met many years back.
I last saw him a day or two back.
More examples (1)
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...
To a later point in time. See also put back.
- Examples
-
The meeting has been moved back an hour. It was at 3 o’clock; now it's at 4 o’clock.
Noun
The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
Could you please scratch my back?
More examples (1)
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.
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.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
I hurt my back lifting those crates.
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.
Usage- Slang
- Uncountable
- Examples
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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.”
More examples (1)
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
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.
Usage- Countable
- Figurative
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
I still need to finish the back of your dress.
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.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
Can you fix the back of this chair?
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.)
Usage- Countable
- Obsolete
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Do thou but think / What ’tis to cram a maw or clothe a back / From such a filthy vice
That which is farthest away from the front.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
He sat in the back of the room.
That which is farthest away from the front. The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
Turn the book over and look at the back.
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.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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The titles are printed on the backs of the books.
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.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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.
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.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Tap it with the back of your knife.
That which is farthest away from the front. The reverse side; the side that is not normally seen.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
I hung the clothes on the back of the door.
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.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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We’ll meet out in the back of the library.
Are you sure you're totally out of hair gel? Could you please check in the back?
That which is farthest away from the front. The part of something that goes last.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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The car was near the back of the train.
That which is farthest away from the front. In some team sports, a position behind most players on the team.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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The backs were lined up in an I formation.
More examples (1)
[…]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 upper part of a natural object which is considered to resemble an animal’s back.
Usage- Countable
- Figurative
- Uncountable
- Examples
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The small boat raced over the backs of the waves.
A support or resource in reserve.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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This project / Should have a back or second, that might hold, / If this should blast in proof.
The keel and keelson of a ship.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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The ship’s back broke in the pounding surf.
The roof of a horizontal underground passage.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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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.
Effort, usually physical.
Usage- Slang
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Put some back into it!
A non-alcoholic drink (often water or a soft drink), to go with hard liquor or a cocktail.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Could I get a martini with a water back?
Among leather dealers, one of the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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[…]as delivered by a tanner the average weight of a back and two strips would be about 42 pounds[…].
Verb
To go in the reverse direction.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
-
The train backed into the station.
The horse refuses to back.
More examples (3)
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.
No sooner had a waiting locomotive backed on to its train, the vociferous 4-6-4 or 4-8-4 re-emerged from under the bridge, and the two red marker lights on the last vehicles passed, than the headlight of the electric engine hauling the following train could be seen under the bridge and the waiting queue of locomotives had moved up one.
It was Brianna’s Oldsmobile, and it had been backed into the side of the abandoned house with enough force that the rear bumper was caught on the foundation. The back tyres were actually lifted off the ground.
To support.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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I back you all the way.
Which horse are you backing in this race?
More examples (4)
Be it known that, waiving all argument, I take the good old fashioned ground that the whale is a fish, and call upon holy Jonah to back me.
The pony won three times in one month and as I had backed it on each occasion I collected a ‘bank’ of over £400.
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 change direction contrary to the normal pattern; that is, to shift anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere, or clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
Usage- of the wind
To brace the yards so that the wind presses on the front of the sail, to slow the ship.
Usage- of a square sail
To lay out a second, smaller anchor to provide additional holding power.
Usage- of an anchor
To stand still behind another dog which has pointed.
Usage- UK usage
- of a hunting dog
To push or force backwards.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
to back oxen
The mugger backed her into a corner and demanded her wallet.
More examples (1)
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.
To get upon the back of; to mount.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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I will back him [a horse] straight.
More examples (1)
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.
To place or seat upon the back.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
-
Great Jupiter, upon his eagle backed, / Appeared to me.
To make a back for; to furnish with a back.
- Examples
-
to back books
To adjoin behind; to be at the back of.
- Examples
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He hath a garden circummured with brick, Whose western side is with a vineyard backed
the chalk cliffs which back the beach
More examples (2)
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 write upon the back of, possibly as an endorsement.
- Examples
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to back a letter; to back a note or legal document
To sign or endorse (a warrant, issued in another county, to apprehend an offender).
Usage- of a justice of the peace
To row backward with (oars).
- Examples
-
to back the oars
To draw from behind the back (a knife etc.) (as also back out).
Usage- Multicultural-London-English
- Transitive
- Examples
-
Sticks and Stones may break my bones Not when I back this botty
When I back this blade, wallahi The hearts get beat like they just saw jihadi
To carry an infant on one’s back.
Usage- Nigeria
- Transitive
Noun
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.
Adjective
related to or located at the back
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
the back yard
the back entrance
located at or near the back of an animal
- Examples
-
back (or hind) legs
the hinder part of a carcass
of an earlier date
- Examples
-
back issues of the magazine
Noun
the posterior part of a human (or animal) body from the neck to the end of the spine
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
his back was nicely tanned
the side that goes last or is not normally seen
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
he wrote the date on the back of the photograph
the part of something that is furthest from the normal viewer
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
he stood at the back of the stage
it was hidden in the rear of the store
(football) a person who plays in the backfield
- Broader terms
the series of vertebrae forming the axis of the skeleton and protecting the spinal cord
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the fall broke his back
the protective covering on the front, back, and spine of a book
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the book had a leather binding
the part of a garment that covers the back of your body
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
they pinned a ‘kick me’ sign on his back
a support that you can lean against while sitting
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the back of the dental chair was adjustable
(American football) the position of a player on a football team who is stationed behind the line of scrimmage
- Broader terms
Adverb
in or to or toward a former location
- Examples
-
she went back to her parents' house
at or to or toward the back or rear
- Examples
-
he moved back
tripped when he stepped backward
More examples (1)
she looked rearward out the window of the car
in or to or toward an original condition
- Examples
-
he went back to sleep
in or to or toward a past time
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
set the clocks back an hour
never look back
More examples (1)
lovers of the past looking fondly backward
in reply
- Examples
-
he wrote back three days later
in repayment or retaliation
- Examples
-
we paid back everything we had borrowed
he hit me and I hit him back
More examples (1)
I was kept in after school for talking back to the teacher
Verb
be behind; approve of
- Examples
-
He plumped for the Labor Party
I backed Kennedy in 1960
travel backward
- Examples
-
back into the driveway
The car backed up and hit the tree
give support or one's approval to
- Examples
-
I'll second that motion
I can't back this plan
More examples (1)
endorse a new project
cause to travel backward
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
back the car into the parking spot
support financial backing for
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
back this enterprise
be in back of
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
My garage backs their yard
place a bet on
- Examples
-
Which horse are you backing?
I'm betting on the new horse
shift to a counterclockwise direction
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the wind backed
establish as valid or genuine
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
Can you back up your claims?
strengthen by providing with a back or backing
- Broader terms