▪ I. † aback, n. Obs. rare—1.
[ad. Fr. abaque, ad. L. abacus.]
A square tablet or compartment.
| 1603 B. Jonson James I's Enter. Wks. 1838 529/1 In the centre, or midst of the pegne, there was an aback or square, wherein this elegy was written. |
▪ II. aback, adv.
(əˈbæk)
Forms: 1 on bæc; 2 a bec; 2–3 on bak, o bak; 2–5 a bak, abak; 4–8 a-back(e, abacke; 6– aback.
[OE. on prep. bæc n. = unto or in the rear, backward. The prep. and n., long written separate, were at length treated as one word; already in 3 the prefix began to be dropped, leaving back as the ordinary modern form of the word, aback being confined chiefly to nautical language. Cf. adown and down, around and round, etc.]
1. Motion: in a direction backwards, to the rear, towards that which is behind; back. Fig. From the front, or scene of action, off, away, to a distance. to draw aback, go aback, come a-back: to retreat; to drive a-back: to repulse; to put a-back: to repel, reject.
| c 1000 Ags. Gospels Matt. iv. 10 Gang þu sceocca on bæc! John vi. 66 Maneᵹa his learning-cnihtas cyrdon on-bæc, & ne eodun mid him. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 239 Mid al þan þe þer middenarde for his lufe werpeð abéc. 1297 R. Glouc. 131 So þat þe white was aboue, as þe folk y seye, And drof þe rede al abak out of þe put ney. c 1400 Apol. for Lollards 56 He [Christ] turnid & seid to Peter, Go o bak after Me, Sathanas. 1449 Pecock Repressor iii. iii. 290 Certis this seiyng may be at fulle Putt Abak and be rebukid. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 117/2 O ye right noble knyghtes which ben comen to the victorye & now goo abacke! 1490 ― Eneydos xxiii. 87 The sterres also and all the fyrmamente she maketh to retorne abacke. 1500 Partenay 5080 Neuer put A-bake, manly was of myght. c 1505 Dunbar Goldin Terge xxi, Syne went abak, rebutit of the prey. 1552 Lyndesay Tragedy 134 Than was I put abak frome my purpose, And suddantlie caste in captyuitie. 1554 Interl. of Youth (in Hazlitt Dodsley II. 6) Aback, fellows, and give me room. c 1596 King and Barkur 46 (in Hazlitt E.P.P. I. 6) The tanner lokyd a bake tho, The heydes began to fall. a 1834 Coleridge The Two Founts (Poems 340) To shrink aback and cower upon his urn. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. VI. xv. v. 10 Alas, Belleisle had his accident in the Harz; and all went aback, from that time. |
2. Rest, or resistance to motion: in a position to the rear, in that which is behind, in a backward position; in the rear, behind. Fig. Away from the front or scene of action, at a distance, aloof, in retirement. to hold aback, to restrain, hinder; to stand aback from, to stand aloof, to avoid, or eschew.
| c 1120 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) anno 1110, And furðor nihtes syððan he ufor astah, he wæs ᵹesewen on bæc on þæt norðwest gangende. c 1430 Lydgate Bochas i. ix. (1544 lf. 16 b), But aback winter can somer undermine And al his freshnes sodeinly decline. c 1525 Skelton On Tyme 22 And when tyme is, to put thyselfe in prease, And when tyme is, to holde thyself abacke. 1637 Rutherford Letters xciv. (1862) I. 242 Keep yourself in the love of Christ and stand far aback from the pollutions of the world. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. I. i. 87 A temple fair We came to, set aback midst towering trees. 1878 Joaquin Miller Songs of Italy 122 Front and aback there is nothing but flood. |
3. Naut. Said of the sails of a ship, when laid back against the mast, with the wind bearing against their front surfaces. Also, of the ship, when her sails are so laid.
| 1697 Jumper in Lond. Gaz. mmmcccxv. 1, I braced my main topsails aback. 1762 Falconer Shipwreck ii. 427 Away there! lower the mizen yard on deck, He calls, and brace the foremost yards aback! 1790 R. Beatson Nav. and Mil. Mem. II. 58 The Revenge was necessitated to throw her sails all aback. 1847 Ross Voyage to South Pole II. 217 We instantly hove all aback to diminish the violence of the shock. |
b. Hence the nautical phrase to be taken aback, ‘when through a shift of wind or bad steerage, the wind comes in front of the square sails and lays them back against the masts, instantly staying the ship's onward course and giving her stern way; an accident exceedingly dangerous in a strong gale.’ Sir John Richardson.
| 1754 Eeles Let. 2, in Phil. Trans. XLIX. 144 If they luff up, they will be taken aback, and run the hazard of being dismasted. 1870 Daily News Sept. 16 This proves to my mind that the Captain was taken as flat aback as could be by a squall striking her from starboard. |
c. fig. Of persons. to take aback: to surprise or discomfit by a sudden and unlooked-for check.
| 1840 Hood Up the Rhine 21 The boy, in sea phrase, was taken all aback. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes 52 I don't think I was ever so taken aback in all my life. 1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 95 They were for the moment taken aback by the strange appearance of the vessels coming into battle with their masts left standing. |
4. aback of, aback o': at the back of, on the back of, behind (cf. back of, back adv. 15). arch., dial. (see E.D.D. and Sc. Nat. Dict.), and U.S. (where Obs. or dial.).
| 1783 W. Fleming Jrnl. in Kentucky 8 Jan. in Mereness Trav. Amer. Col. (1916) 663 Fern Creek is lost in ponds and low flat land a back of the Falls. 1836 D. B. Edward Hist. Texas v. 79 Those districts..aback of the older settled ones. 1849 Gloss. Prov. Words Teesdale 1 Aback, prep. Behind; as, stand aback o' me. 1876 Morris Sigurd ii. 150 So he leapeth aback of Greyfell, and rideth the desert bare. 1894 Hall Caine Manxman i. xi. 50 Just aback of the lighthouse. 1908 J. Lumsden Doun i' th' Loudons 80 Be aff, ye limmer, unman men nae mair, A-back o' granny, is the post for you! |