back
IPA: bˈæk
noun
- 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.
- (slang, uncountable) Large and attractive buttocks.
- (figurative) The part of a piece of clothing which covers the back.
- The backrest, the part of a piece of furniture which receives the human back.
- (obsolete) That part of the body that bears clothing. (Now used only in the phrase clothes on one's 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.
- (printing) The inside margin of a page.
- The side of a blade opposite the side used for cutting.
- The reverse side; the side that is not normally seen.
- Area behind, such as the backyard of a house.
- The part of something that goes last.
- (sports) In some team sports, a position behind most players on the team.
- (figuratively) Upper part of a natural object which is considered to resemble an animal's back.
- A support or resource in reserve.
- (nautical) The keel and keelson of a ship.
- (mining) The roof of a horizontal underground passage.
- (slang, uncountable) Effort, usually physical.
- A non-alcoholic drink (often water or a soft drink), to go with hard liquor or a cocktail.
- Among leather dealers, one of the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
- 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.
- A surname.
- A settlement on the Isle of Lewis, Western Isles council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NB4840).
- (swimming) Clipping of backstroke. [A backhanded stroke or blow.]
verb
- (intransitive) To go in the reverse direction.
- (transitive) To support.
- (nautical, of the wind) To change direction contrary to the normal pattern; that is, to shift anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere, or clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
- (nautical, of a square sail) To brace the yards so that the wind presses on the front of the sail, to slow the ship.
- (nautical, of an anchor) To lay out a second, smaller anchor to provide additional holding power.
- (UK, of a hunting dog) To stand still behind another dog which has pointed.
- (transitive) To push or force backwards.
- (transitive, obsolete) To get upon the back of; to mount.
- (transitive, obsolete) To place or seat upon the back.
- To make a back for; to furnish with a back.
- To adjoin behind; to be at the back of.
- To write upon the back of, possibly as an endorsement.
- (law, of a justice of the peace) To sign or endorse (a warrant, issued in another county, to apprehend an offender).
- To row backward with (oars).
- (MLE, transitive) To draw from behind the back [+accusative = a knife etc.] (as also back out).
- (Nigeria, transitive) To carry an infant on one's back.
adjective
- At or near the rear.
- (predicative) Returned or restored to a previous place or condition.
- Not current.
- Situated away from the main or most frequented areas.
- In arrears; overdue.
- Moving or operating backward.
- (comparable, phonetics) 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).
adverb
- (not comparable) To or in a previous condition or place.
- In a direction opposite to that in which someone or something is facing or normally pointing.
- In a direction opposite to the usual or desired direction of movement or progress, physically or figuratively.
- So as to reverse direction and return.
- Towards, into or in the past.
- Away from someone or something; at a distance.
- Away from the front or from an edge.
- So as to shrink, recede or move aside, or cause to do so.
- In a manner that impedes.
- (not comparable) In a reciprocal manner; in return.
- (postpositive) Earlier, ago.
- To a later point in time. See also put back.
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Examples of "back" in Sentences
- If we have gone out of the way Jesus will bring us back, _if we want to come back_.
- It took all of me to hold back the tears when my dad told me to find him and bring him back
- The warm atmosphere radiates some of its energy back down to earth – this latter is sometimes termed back radiation.
- Nina needs help to roll from her belly to her back, so they put a circle that goes part way around rolls belly to back.
- I have only recently been getting back a little: no, getting _back_ nothing, -- but some new life, out of a new world, I think.
- Nevertheless it was their turning back, or being _sent back_, as it was called, that gave a pretext to the slander that was then started.
- My back folds in to ridges, where the water running down my back carefully bounces and folds into the crevices, reaching an invisible body of flow, up and over the highlights of my skin created from years of play in the sun
- In the next issue he combined some of his smaller departments in the back; and thus, in 1896, he inaugurated the method of running over into the back which has now become a recognized principle in the make-up of magazines of larger size.
- 'We will take New Orleans back' yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = '\'We will take New Orleans back\' '; yahooBuzzArticleSummary =' Article: Two years after Katrina tore through the mouth of the Mississippi, a New Orleans parent, after running an obstacle course that can take many months, is only sometimes able to place his or her child in a school. '
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