back-
in comb. is used in many relations, substantive, adjective, and adverbial (rarely verbal), often difficult to separate, and in various senses. In some of these the combination is very loose, the use of the hyphen being almost optional.
This is especially the case, when back is capable of being viewed as an adj., in which aspect the hyphen would not be used, e.g. back-yard or back yard, back-stroke or back stroke. As a rule, the use of the hyphen implies that the combination (in the case in point) has not the general and purely descriptive value of the two words, but is in some respect specialized or appropriated as a specific name.
A. General senses in combination.
I. from back n.
1. objective. a. with pr. pple., forming adjectives, as back-wounding, back-slapping. b. with vbl. n., forming substantives, as back-breaking, back-scratching. c. with agent-noun, as back-scraper, back-scratcher.
| 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. ii. 197 Back-wounding calumnie. 1787 Bentham Wks. X. 168 Back-breaking which is the death of so many vessels. 1794 J. Wolcott (P. Pindar) Rowl. for Oliver Wks. II. 135 Chopsticks and backscrapers. 1834 Southey Doctor iv. (D.) A back-scratcher, of which the hand was ivory. 1884 Good Wds. June 400/2 Having borne himself so lubberly over his ‘back-scratching.’ |
2. instrumental and
locative, with
pples. and
adjs., forming
adjs., as
back-broken,
back-aching,
back-breaking.
| 1603 J. Davies Microcosm. (1876) 16 (D.) An empires lode (Which weaknesse oft back-broken vndergoes). 1837 Athenæum No. 827. 874 The back-broken traveller..stretches from his camel. 1870 ‘Mark Twain’ {pstlg}30,000 Bequest (1906) 214 Did you ever notice..how back-breaking and tiresome it was? 1883 Swinburne Casquettes xvi, The strengths reluctant of waves back-bowed. 1913 Maclean's Mag. May 93/2 Every Monday I have a back-breaking session with that washing machine. 1916 ‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin iii. 34 The work of shovelling the coal into bags was back-breaking. 1940 F. Kitchen Brother to Ox ii. 25 What a back-aching job it was! 1958 Times 27 Oct. 11/3 [Potato-picking] looks so easy, and to the novice pressed into service as I am it is a back-breaking penance. |
3. attrib. Of or pertaining to the back, used for or carried on the back,
e.g. back-ache,
back-cloth,
back-clout,
back-fin;
back-basket,
back-burden,
back-dunt.
| c 1230 Ancr. R. 290 Gif him stronge bac duntes. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 362 Oure bakcloþis [v.r. bakkes] þat moth-eten be. 1530 Palsgr. 196/1 Backeburden, portee, charge. 1601 Dent Pathw. Heauen 79 Tooth-ache, head-ache, backe-ache, bone-ache. 1706 Phillips, Bray, Back-clouts for young children. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 158 She came..with a great back-burden of roots. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 90 Large portable back-baskets. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. iv. 144 With their back-fins out of the water. 1907 Masefield Tarp. Muster xii. 132 It was ‘Shift topmasts’, or ‘Down top-gallant yards’, or some gummy backache or another all the whole day long. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 40 We have nothing in the house but backache pills. |
II. from
back a.
4. gen. Lying at the back, in the rear, or behind; hinder;
= back a. 1, and more commonly written as two words.
| 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 86 Thou shalt see my Backe-partes, but my face shal not be seene. 1650 T. Goodwin Wks. (1862) IV. 267 The back-parts of God, which we call his attributes. 1752 tr. Gersaint's Rembrandt's Etch. 29 The Back-view is the inner part of the Temple. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) I. iii. xxxvii. 167 The back-part of this tent. 1772 Maskelyne in Phil. Trans. LXII. 106 In the back-observation..the real upper-limb will appear the lowest. 1774 White ibid. LXV. 273 The back-wall of William of Wickham's stables. |
5. esp. Applied to a part of a house or building which lies behind, and is usually subsidiary to the front or main part bearing the name, as
back-building, a building behind forming an appendage to a main building,
back-chamber,
back-court,
back-drawing-room,
back-garden (also
transf. and
fig.),
back-kitchen,
back-parlour,
back porch,
back shed, etc. See also
back-house 1,
back yard.
| 1535 Coverdale Ezek. xlii. 1 The chambre that stode ouer agaynst the backbuyldinge. 1633 Ford Love's Sacr. i. ii. (1839) 77 I'll meet thee..in thy lady's back-lobby. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. lv, In every back-chamber or with-drawing room. 1738 Purefoy Lett. 8 Oct. (1931) I. viii. 191 To mend two Pannells in the back Parlour 0–03–06. 1759 Sterne Tr. Shandy (1802) I. 78 To drink a bottle of wine with my father..in the back-parlour. 1784 Wesley Wks. (1872) XIII. 503 She heard a knocking at the back-kitchen door. 1789 Washington Diaries (1925) IV. 30 A back shed, which seems to be added as the family encreases. 1811 Jane Austen Let. 25 Apr. (1932) II. 274 We were 66..quite enough to fill the Back Draw{supg} room. 1818 Keats Let. 24 Mar. (1958) I. 254 To have a sort of Philosophical Back Garden. 1832 Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. I. 50/1 It is true..that nothing can match your back kitchen as a convenience to the servants. 1840 Southern Lit. Messenger VI. 734/1 He was led by the hand into the back porch. 1854 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. i, Curled up on the sofa in the back-drawing-room. 1866 R. Ballantyne Lifeboat 5 Mr. Crumps sat in a small back-office. 1875 Mrs. Stowe We & Neighbors liv. 480 He had leaped out of a window upon a back shed. 1878 Black Green Past. iii. 20 The back-parlour of a Ballinascroon public-house. 1889 G. B. Shaw in Hawk 13 Aug. 172/2 Wagner..is ‘buried in the back garden, sir, like a Newfoundland dog’. 1960 R. Williams Border Country i. ii. §6.51 It had a built-on back-kitchen. 1963 Times 16 Jan. 13/1 After cultivating their own back gardens contentedly..for 15 post-war years up to the beginning of 1961, steel-makers the world over are now preoccupied with export problems. |
III. from
back adv. 6. With
vbs., forming compound verbs, as
back-try, to try back or over again.
rare.
| 1640–1 Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855) 83 The way..shall be tryed and baktryed. |
7. With
pres. pple., forming
adjs., as
back-acting (
cf. back-acter in B below),
back-blowing,
back-coming,
back-driving,
back-glancing,
back-going,
back-looking,
back-lying.
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 97 b, A repercussiue or back-dryuyng medicine. 1615 W. Hull Mirr. Maj. 48 The soule is encombred with foure back-pulling retentives. 1817 M. Edgeworth Harrington vi. Wks. IX. 45 With back-stepping curtsy. 1850 Mrs. Browning Poems II. 347 Back-looking Memory. 1863 H. Kingsley A. Elliot I. x. 110 A long, low, back-lying house. 1924 Buchan Three Hostages xxi. 299 The body was heavy, and he was clearly a back-going beast. 1928 W. Barnes Excavating Machinery ii. 50 The action of a back-acting shovel is..the reverse of a standard shovel, as it digs towards the machine like a drag line. |
8. With
pa. pples., forming
adjs. (chiefly poetic), as
back-drawn,
back-flung,
back-thrown,
back-turned, etc.
| 1580 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 92 With shafts shot out from their back-turned bow. 1652 Urquhart Jewel Wks. (1834) 226 Tossed to and again, retorted, backreverted. 1850 Mrs. Browning Poems II. 74 Back-thrown on the slippery coping-stone. 1863 Barnes Rhymes Dorset Dial. II. 28 A-lookin up with back-flung head. |
9. With
agent-nouns, forming
ns., as
backslider;
back-sitter, one who sits back.
| 1883 in E. P. Hood Scot. Char. ii. 33 But a bauchle..in this world, and a backsitter in the neist. |
10. With
vbl. ns. forming nouns, as
backsliding,
back-coming,
back-drawing,
back-going,
back-looking,
back-slipping,
back-starting,
back-surging,
back-turning, etc.
| 1535 Coverdale Jer. iii. 22 So shal I heale youre bacturnynges. 1540 ― Fruitf. Less. iii. Wks. 1844 I. 366 Such curious backlooking doth the Lord rebuke. 1590 Swinburn Testaments 197 Of apostasie..that is to say, of back-starting from the Christian faith. 1600 Abp. Abbot Exp. Jonah 523 That sigh which breatheth out sorrow, by a backe-breathing bringeth in joy. a 1605 Sir J. Melvil Mem. (1683) 79 In her back-coming..the Earl of Bothwell rancountered her. 1663 Blair Autobiog. vi. (1848) 86 Approving my jealousy, but reproving my backdrawing. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxxiv, A..hostage for my safe backcoming. 1858 R. Chambers Dom. Ann. Scotl. I. 4 In all her back-surgings upon the ground she lost. |
11. With
ns. of action, forming nouns, as
back-caper,
back-blast,
back-come,
back-eddy (
usu. fig.),
back-flip,
back-flow also (
fig.),
back-kick (also
fig.),
back-look,
back-march,
back-return,
back-somersault,
back-step,
back-stretch,
back-sweep,
back-swing (also
fig.),
back-swirl,
back-throw.
| 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 314 At his back-returne into his country. 1591 Backe somersaut [see somersault n. α]. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, v. Cho. 41 Till Harryes backe returne againe to France. 1606 Ret. fr. Parnass. ii. vi, The dog, seeing him practise his..back-caper. 1645 Rutherford Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845) 122 When the conscience hath gotten a back-throw with the hand of the Almighty. a 1718 Penn Wks. (1726) I. 454 We wish it be not the Beginning of a Back-march. 1852 Grote Greece ii. lxxv. IX. 479 The back-march of Agesilaus. 1865 ‘Lewis Carroll’ Alice in Wonderland v. 64 You turned a back-somersault in at the door. 1869 Eng. Mech. 31 Dec. 382/2 The weight is by the back-throw from C to A restrained from lowering itself. 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 72/2 For the prevention of any back-flow of water or sewage. 1899 H. G. Hutchinson et al. Book of Golf & Golfers v. 125 If the back swing is a little tied up..the down swing and its finish are as free as we could have them. 1913 D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers xiii. 365 The Trent carries bodily its back-swirls and intertwinings. 1923 Kipling Irish Guards in Gt. War I. 88 Our shrapnel, which had no back-blast. 1924 A. J. Small Frozen Gold xiii. 272 Their back-kicks went out as far as their bushy tails. 1928 T. S. Eliot Dial. Poetic Drama p. xxii, The age of Shakespeare moved in a steady current, with back-eddies certainly, towards anarchy and chaos. 1934 Webster, Backswing, the movement of the [golf] club backward to the position from which it is brought down to strike the ball. 1935 W. G. Hardy Father Abraham i. ii. 29 His cane cut Simil-i-una..across the calves. Its back-flip caught Abraham just as expertly across the belly. 1936 J. C. Powys Maiden Castle (1937) i. 40 The least back-eddy of remorse or shame. 1939 G. Greene Lawless Roads x. 261 Mexico gave me a back kick. 1940 E. Wilson To Finland Station i. iii. 16 The back-flow of old instincts and interests among the purposes and hopes of the new. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 68/1 Back-kick, term applied to the violent reversal of an internal-combustion engine during starting, due to a back⁓fire. 1948 J. Harvey Plantagenets vii. 87 The break of dynasty and the back⁓swing of the pendulum. 1954 J. H. Fingleton Ashes crown Year iv. 45 Hole's big back-swing..leaves him vulnerable to an in-swinger. 1966 Mills & Butler Mod. Badminton iv. 34 For the high singles serve..your back⁓swing should go back further. 1967 Boston Sunday Herald 30 Apr. i. 25/1 The Yanks would do back-flips to get Yaz, Tony C., or Petrocelli. |
12. With other
ns. a. expressing backward direction, as
back-bias,
back-draught (see B).
| a 1617 Bayne On Eph. (1658) 130 Youthful lusts..like a back-bias, did draw after themselves the understanding. 1642 Rogers Naaman 550 He doth but put a back-bias upon thee; that he might weigh thy motion to himselfe. |
b. expressing ‘in the contrary direction,’ return-, as
back-cargo, cargo brought on the return voyage,
back-carriage,
back-current,
back-fare,
back-freight,
back-tonnage.
| 1657 S. Colvil Whigs Supplic. (1751) 30 He treads the back-scent, brings a glove. 1721 C. King Brit. Merch. I. 361 Sending any empty Ships..for the sake of Back-carriage. Corn has been often carry'd..for nothing, in consideration of Back-Tunnage. 1805 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. III. 320 Our ships incur a loss of back-freight. 1832 in Mrs. A. Mathews Mem. C. Mathews (1839) IV. 106 No, your honour, not unless you promise me the back-fare. 1833 Tennyson Poems 36 The fish that everywhere In the backcurrent glanced and played. 1860 in Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 57 It is not difficult to procure back cargo. |
c. expressing reciprocation or reply, as
back-answer (also as
v. trans.),
back-echo,
back-word (see B).
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §247 You have many Back-Eccho's to the Place where you stand. 1884 Hull & E.C. Herald 28 Feb. 6/6 The boy was a civil boy, and never gave a back answer. 1915 A. Conan Doyle Valley of Fear ii. ii. 187 ‘You have your back answer quick enough.’ ‘Yes, I was always quick of speech.’ 1921 H. Williamson Beautiful Years 221 No one has ever back-answered Sol Isaacs and not paid for it. 1939 G. Greene Confid. Agent ii. i. 184 ‘No more back answers,’ the policeman said. 1959 P. McCutchan Storm South iv. 57, I didn't want to be hauled over the coals for back-answering a passenger. |
d. expressing ‘turned or performed backwards,’ as
back-pater-noster,
back-slang.
IV. Parasynthetic derivatives, as
back-geared, having back gear;
back-handed.
| 1881 Mechanic §596 Lathe with back-geared head. |
B. Special combinations (with quotations in alphabetical order):
back-acter = backhoe below;
cf. back-action;
back-bar, a bar in the chimney to hang a vessel on (Ash);
back beat Jazz, a secondary beat;
back-boiler, a boiler behind a domestic fire or cooking range;
back-box, in
Printing, a box on top of the upper case, usually appropriated to small capitals (Craig);
back-brand dial. = back-log;
back-breaker, (
a) the leader of a gang of farm-labourers; (
b) a back-breaking task, etc. (
cf. back n.1 24 a and
back- A. 2); also in extended use;
back-burn [
burn n.3 1 c]: see
quot. 1944; also
back-burning;
back burner: on a cooking stove, a simmering-burner (
burner 4 c),
freq. set behind the front burners or boiling-rings; used
fig.,
esp. in
phr. on the back burner (
colloq.,
orig. U.S.), (of an issue, etc.) in the state of being (temporarily) relegated or postponed; out of the forefront of attention; deferred, pending;
† back-carry n. = back-bear;
back-casing, in
Mining, a temporary shaft-lining of bricks, in front of which the permanent lining is built;
back-cauter (see
quot.);
back-chain, a chain that passes over a cart-saddle to support the shafts of a cart;
† back-chair, a chair with a back;
back-clamp v. in
Wrestling (see
quot.);
back-click, a trick in wrestling;
back-comb n., an ornamental comb worn at the back of the head; also
v. trans. and intr., to comb the underlying hairs of a strand towards the scalp;
back-court, (
a) (see
back- 5); (
b) in
Lawn Tennis (see
quot. 1961); also
attrib.;
back-crawl, in
Swimming, a form of the crawl in which the swimmer lies on his back;
back-cross v. trans. (
Biol.), to cross (a hybrid) with one of its parents;
back-crossing vbl. n.; hence
back-cross n., an instance or product of back-crossing;
back-cut, in
Cricket, a late cut; hence
back-cut v.
trans.;
back-cutting, in
Civil Engin. (see
quots.);
back-double dial., a back street, a side road;
back-draught, (
a) a draught of air backward, a hood for producing this in a fire; (
b) a drawing in of the breath; an act of drinking or gulping down
Sc.; (
c) a reverse current of water, under-tow;
back-drop Theatr. (
orig. U.S.),
= backcloth 2; also
transf. and
fig.;
back-electro-motive force, back e.m.f., in
Electr. Engin., an electro-motive force which opposes that producing the current;
backfield: in Baseball, the outfield (
rare or
nonce-use); in American football, the (positions occupied by) players behind the line of scrimmage;
backfill n., excavated earth, etc., used in backfilling;
back-filling, the filling in again of earth which has been removed, the earth so filled in; so
back-fill v. (1651 in D.O.S.T.);
back-filled ppl. a.;
back-flap,
-fold (
= back-shutter);
back-flash, the act or process of flashing back (Webster, 1934);
spec. (
a)
Forestry (see
quot. 1957); (
b)
= flashback n. 2;
back focus, in
Photogr. (see
quots.);
back-front, the ground in an etching or engraving;
back-harrow (see
harrow);
back-heart, the dorsal heart or large blood-vessel of insects and other arthropoda;
back-heel n., a trick in wrestling;
back-heel v., (
a) to throw by a back-heel; (
b) to kick (a football) backwards with the heel;
backhoe U.S., an excavating vehicle in which the scoop is rigidly attached to the lower end of a short hinged arm at the end of a boom and is pulled towards the vehicle in operation;
= back-acter above;
† back-hood, hiding behind cover;
back-jamb, a wing of a house projecting behind;
back-lift, in
Cricket, a backward lift given to the bat immediately before a stroke is played; in
Rugby and
Assoc. Football, a backward lift given to the leg when kicking a ball;
back-light, a light coming from behind or falling upon the hinder part (Worcester 1859);
back-lighting, in
Photogr., lighting coming from behind the subject;
back-lining, in
Arch., the piece of a sash-frame parallel to the pulley piece and next to the jamb on either side (Gwilt 1842);
back-links, the links in a parallel motion which connect the air-pump rod to the beam (Weale
Dict. Terms 1849);
back-lock, a trick in wrestling;
back-nails, ‘nails made with flat shanks, so as to hold fast, and not to open the grain of the wood’ (James
Mil. Dict. 1816);
back-overman, in
Coal Mining, an overman who has the immediate inspection of the workings and workmen during the
back-shift;
back-painting (see
quot.);
back-pater-noster, the Lord's prayer repeated backward as a charm,
fig. a muttered curse or imprecation;
back play, in
Cricket, a method of play in which the batsman steps back towards the wicket and plays the ball from behind the popping crease; hence
back-player;
back-pressure, in the steam-engine, the resistance of the atmosphere or waste steam to the piston; also, any resistance to the flow of a liquid or gas; also
attrib.;
back projection Cinematogr. (see
quot. 1933); so
back-projected ppl. adj.;
† back-reckoning, a reckoning for past transactions or misdeeds;
back-rest, a guide attached to the slide-rest of a turning-lathe, and placed in contact with the work to steady it;
back-rope (of a horse)
= back-band;
Naut., a rope leading inboard from the martingale; see also
quot. 1860;
back saw (see
quot.);
back-scene, the background of a stage scene;
back-shaft, part of a cotton-spinning machine;
back-shift, in
Coal Mining, the second shift or set of hewers for the day;
backshore (see
quot. 1919);
back-shutter, the part of a shutter which folds up behind;
back-skin, in
Mining, a leather covering worn by miners in wet workings;
back spacer, a typewriter key that moves the carriage one space backward; also
back-space key and
transf.; so
back-space v. intr., to use such a key;
back-spacing vbl. n.;
back-spang (
Sc.), a trick or legal quirk, by which one takes advantage of another, after a bargain has been adjusted (
Jam.);
back-speed, in
Mech., the second speed-gear of a lathe;
back-spin = underspin;
† back-stand, backing, support;
back-step, a step back; the retrograde movement without changing front (James
Mil. Dict. 1816);
back-stool, a stool with a back;
back-stop, in
Cricket = long-stop;
back-straight (see
straight B. 3), the stretch along the side of a racecourse or stadium opposite to that in which the races end;
back-striking, in
Agriculture, a mode of ploughing in which the earth once turned is simply thrown back again;
back-string, a string at the back,
e.g. at the back of a child's pinafore;
back-sweep (see
quot.);
back-swimmer, one that swims on his back; the hemipterous insect
Notonecta which swims on the surface of pools;
back-tack (
Sc. Law), a kind of deed by which the mortgagee of land gives a lease of it to the mortgagor on condition of payment of rent till redeemed (Buchanan);
† back-timber (
humorously for) clothing;
† back-trade, backward course;
† back-trick, ? a caper backwards in dancing;
back-winter, a return of winter after its regular time;
back-word (in
Lanc.), withdrawal from a promise or from an accepted invitation, also
dial. a contradiction, rude answer;
back-worm, a disease incident to hawks;
back-wort (
Herb.), old name for the Comfrey (
Symphytum officinale).
| 1957 J. H. Arnison Pract. Road Constr. iii. 52 The shafts for the manholes may be cut out by manual labour, and the main trench by mechanical plant such as a *back-acter [printed -acker] or trencher. 1963 M. J. Tomlinson Foundation Design & Construction ix. 537 Small hydraulically operated tractor-mounted backacters are being used to an increasing extent for narrow and shallow trench excavation. 1976 Jrnl. (Newcastle) 26 Nov. (Advt.), Hymac 370 wheeled digger with back acter. |
| 1928 Melody Maker Dec. 1295 (heading) *Back beats! 1948 Metronome Nov. 28 I'd rather use the high-hat as a back beat and break up the bass drum rhythms. 1977 New Musical Express 12 Feb. 17/1 The pedal steel, sawed-off fiddle and hammering back-beat are a joy, and the dynamics are keen. 1985 Internat. Musician June 53/2, I put down a backbeat and a bass line—a heavy sort of Rock'n'Roll track under what they do which is sing with drums. |
| 1939 L. J. Overton Dom. Hot Water Suppl. iii. 12 The *Back-Boiler, for setting in brickwork behind a kitchen range or at the back of an ordinary fireplace. |
| 1844 W. Barnes Poems Rural Life in Dorset Dial. 201 We got a *back bran', dree girt logs. 1874 Hardy Far from Madding Crowd I. xxii. 267 The log which was to form the back-brand of the evening fire was the uncleft trunk of a tree. |
| 1867 People's Mag. May 314/2 He selects one of his gang as *back-breaker. 1909 Webster, Back breaker, a task requiring excessive exertion. 1929 F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 5 Backbreakers, old-fashioned ship's pumps. 1962 Spectator 13 Apr. 480, I don't fancy the back-breaker or the pile-driver [in wrestling]. |
| 1944 Soc. Amer. Foresters: Forestry Terminol. 10/1 *Back-burn, denotes a controlled fire burning against the wind. |
| 1963 Times 26 Apr. 14/1 With Mr. Khrushchev showing no interest in the Anglo-American proposals, the test ban, with Berlin and the Soviet evacuation of Cuba, will have to be put on the *back burner, as the Americans have it. 1966 Time 4 Feb. 39 That uniform gives prestige and status to a guy who's been 100 years on the back burner. 1973 Newsweek 19 Feb. 33 Integration has become a back-burner issue... The up-front concern now is to improve economic and social conditions for blacks. 1976 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 23 Nov. 11/1 The new Parti Quebecois Government will either have to raise taxes.., or put most of Rene Levesque's election promises on a back burner for the time being. 1986 Times 10 Mar. 2/8 He had misgivings about the GM bid for BL because under its global strategy Britain had been put on the ‘backburner’ for the last decade. |
| 1878 E. S. Elwell Boy Colonists 90 The ‘*back-burning’ of the fire, which though very slow, is always the most steady and most effective. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Cautere dorsal, the *back cauter: or, that kinde of knife-like cauter, which cuts but on th' one side. |
| 1649 Bury Wills (1850) 221 Vnto my daughter Martha two wrought *backchaires. |
| 1713 T. Parkyns Inn-Play (1727) 43 When your Adversary *Back-clamps you, which is when he claps his Heel in your Ham. |
| 1867 Standard Apr., Graham threw his antagonist first by a ‘*back click.’ |
| 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. I. ii. xii. 268 Ladies..twisting their back-hair..and many of them..carrying their *back-combs in their mouths. 1955 ‘C. Brown’ Lost Girls xii. 130 She had back-combed her hair so that it stood out. 1960 Sunday Express 14 Aug. 12/2 Backcombing madly..my favourite hairdresser..built up some splendid, puffed out effects. 1960 News Chron. 13 Sept. 6/2 The trend in hair styles has been, basically, inflated..set and back⁓combed into..magnificent proportions. |
| 1774 T. Pennant Tour Scotl. I. 1 The *back courts of all these houses are level with the ground. 1784 Ld. Fife Let. 29 Apr. in Ld. Fife & Factor (1925) vii. 165, I found the Duchess of Devonshire in the Back Court, solliciting my paistry Cook to vote for Mr. Fox. 1890 L. Dod in C. G. Heathcote Lawn Tennis xvi. 312 For volleying, more especially than for back-court play, it is essential that the dress should be loose. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 11 May 8/3 Blended judiciously with her back-court game was volleying of a vigorous order. 1961 F. C. Avis Sportsman's Gloss. 253/2 Backcourt, that portion of the court extending from the service line in a direction away from the net. |
| 1929 Handley & Howcroft Crawl-Stroke Swimming 77 Cinema camera pictures of a number of *back⁓crawl exponents have shown that the majority make an eight beat kick. 1951 Swimming (E.S.S.A.) iii. 43 The back-crawl is the fastest of the back strokes and is the second fastest swimming stroke known. |
| 1904 Jrnl. R. Microsc. Soc. Feb. 52 The correctness of Mendel's hypothesis of the purity of the germ-cells and of their production in equal numbers, is shown by *back-crossing of a hybrid with one of the parental forms... Any one of them back-crossed with the recessive parent will produce 50 p.c. pure recessives and 50 p.c. hybrids. 1915 T. H. Morgan et al. Mechanism Mendelian Heredity iii. 52 If the F1 males are backcrossed to black vestigial females only two classes result. 1919 Bridges & Morgan Contr. Genetics of Drosophila Melanogaster 171 Two autosomal back-crosses had been completed. Ibid. 172 No back-cross which involved autosomal linkage had been possible. Ibid. 173 (heading) Back-Cross Test of Females, Purple Vestigial ‘Coupling’. 1929 Genetica XI. 227 Back-crossing in peas is rather troublesome. 1931 E. B. Ford Mendelism & Evolution i. i. 6 Segregation will also occur if heterozygotes are mated with either of the homozygous types. Such a mating is known as a ‘back cross’, for it is produced when the F1 (heterozygous) generation is crossed back to one of the parents. |
| 1845 ‘N. Felix’ Felix on the Bat I. ii. 12 He could not make the *back cut equal to the other parts of his batting. 1898 G. Giffen With Bat & Ball 221 The back cut, the sweetest of strokes. 1954 J. H. Fingleton Ashes crown Year xi. 112 Back-cutting a no-ball from Lindwall most beautifully for 4. |
| 1842 *Back-cutting [see side-cutting s.v. side n.1 27]. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 68/1 Back cutting, earth obtained for a railway or canal bank, when the excavated earth does not suffice for a regular cut and fill. |
| 1932 A. R. L. Gardner Tinker's Kitchen 281 *Back-doubles = back streets. 1938 ‘J. Curtis’ They drive by Night viii. 98 Tied up in these back doubles. 1957 L. P. Hartley Hireling 43 Leadbitter avoided the thronged main roads, steering his way through the ‘back-doubles’, to save time and petrol. 1976 A. Hill Summer's End i. 8, I left the fields behind and crossed the high street, then round the back-doubles to school. |
| 1825 Jamieson, We was whaslin like a blastit stirk i' the *back⁓draucht. 1869 Eng. Mech. 24 Dec. 344/1 A hood or ‘back draught’ is applied over the fire. 1874 G. M. Hopkins Notebks. 13 Aug. (1937) 202 It [sc. the wave] commonly has a pitch or lurch to one side besides its backdraught. 1887 Morris tr. Homer's Odyssey v. 97 The back-draft mightily Fell on him, and..drave him out to sea. Ibid. xii. 218 Nor happen thou upon her [sc. Charybdis] when the back-draught she doth win. 1922 J. B. Salmond Bawbee Bowden xii. 104 Wi' the backdraucht [he] sent a moofu' o' tea up throo his nose. |
| 1913 Amer. Mag. July 103/1 When the film is run off you see the *back⁓drop right through him [sc. the Ghost] while he approaches Hamlet. 1947 D. M. Davin For Rest of Lives xliii. 215 ‘Antimacassars, potstands complete with ferns, occasional tables, bric-a-brac.’ ‘Sounds like the backdrop of a Victorian wedding photo.’ 1962 Listener 13 Sept. 390/1 A particular contribution to any science can only be assessed against the backdrop of history. |
| 1895 Rutherford in Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXVIII. 190 Since dN/dt may be called the *back E.M.F. in the circuit at any instant. 1898 T. O'C. Sloane Stand. Electr. Dict. 156 Counter-electro-motive Force..Synonym—Back Electro-motive Force. Ibid., Back Electro-motive Force of Polarization. 1901 Geipel & Kilgour Electr. Engin. Formulæ (ed. 2) 668 When the anode and cathode are of the same metal..there is no back E.M.F., for the back E.M.F. at the one electrode is of opposite sign to that at the other, and they cancel one another. 1936 Discovery July 202/2 In the very small fraction of a second that the current is flowing in one direction, the back electro-motive force which opposes it has not time to form. |
| 1911 Collier's 12 Aug. 21/2 From the home plate to the *back field was a marked physical retrogression, ending in three strident but barely perceptible fielders. 1923 Outing Mar. 287/1 Now look at the backfield, the terror of all elevens. 1944 N. Mailer in Cross-Section 346 They had this play built around me, where I shift into the backfield..making me eligible to hold the ball. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 23/6 Halfback Bill Simpson, playing his first game in London's offensive backfield after being shifted from defense. 1983 Washington Post 10 Nov. e8 Maryland's football team practiced for the third straight day yesterday without its starting backfield. |
| 1934 Webster, *Backfill. 1975 Daily Tel. 16 Dec. 2/4 Excavated Materials:..used as backfill to foundations and bases in lieu of hardcore. |
| 1901 R. Sturgis Dict. Archit. & Building I. 181/1 *Back-filling,..masonry or earth, and the like, used as a filling over the back (or extrados) of arched constructions, as tunnels and sewers. 1930 Engineering 29 Aug. 259/2 The trenches have to be backfilled with sand, gravel or other good clean earth. 1955 Archit. Rev. CXVIII. 393/3 Mineral operators, when they have finished extraction, are generally free to backfill without planning consent. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 12 Jan. 63/2 Levelling off back-filled tile drain trenches. |
| 1957 Cook & Welch in Jrnl. Forestry LV. 265/1 ‘*Backflash’—the sickening or sudden death, for no apparent reason, of untreated trees in a stand where chemi-peeling has been done. 1958 New Statesman 1 Feb. 144/3 Spiro's ruinous past is displayed in a series of back-flashes. 1960 Ecology XLI. 56/2 Backflash is the movement of poison, through root grafts, from poisoned trees to unpoisoned trees. 1963 in Brown & Foote Early English & Norse Studies 133 These disorderly and almost randomly presented backflashes [in Beowulf] fed to the audience are..truly confusing to a person not saturated with the material. |
| 1897 E. J. Wall Dict. Photogr. (ed. 7) 295 ‘*Back focus’..is the distance between the posterior lens and ground-lens. 1953 Amos & Birkinshaw Telev. Engin. I. ix. 202 The distance between the lens and the image, known as the back focus. |
| 1851 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XII. i. 158 The windows..finished with bound shutters and *back-folds. |
| 1752 tr. Gersaint's Rembrandt's Etch. 59 The *Back-front or Ground is generally foul. |
| 1883 Longm. Mag. May 49 A jointed animal..with a *back-heart, a nervous system below, and a digestive tube. |
| 1881 Sportsman's Year Bk. 314 Cowan scored with a very neat *back heel. |
| 1883 Standard 24 Mar. 3/7 J. Hodgson *back-heeled J. Wilson. 1922 Weekly Dispatch 12 Nov. 10 Roberts..back-heeled cleverly to Quinn while going at top-speed. |
| 1928 Engin. & Contracting LXVII. 193/3 A new gasoline powered shovel... In changing from shovel to clamshell, *back hoe or dragline service, no additions or changes are necessary in the operating machinery. 1950 Engin. News-Rec. 23 Nov. 32 (heading) Something new in big-sewer excavation is started in Chicago... Long-boomed backhoe digs deep trench. 1984 J. Updike Witches of Eastwick i. 52 There's this constant rumbling from the backhoes moving boulders. |
| c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 34 Hee played *back-hood behind from beast to beast. |
| 1852 M. Scott Tom Cringle xviii. (1859) 506 A very handsome dining room situated in what I believe is called a *back-jamb, a sort of outrigger to the house. |
| 1912 C. B. Fry Cricket (Batsmanship) 8 Top of the *back-lift for the cut. 1955 A. Ross Australia 55 135 He is not happy against real pace. His back lift, circular rather than straight, is high. 1960 E. S. & W. J. Higham High Speed Rugby ii. 28 Often enough during a game, you..must kick immediately. Once more, be content, at first, with a short back-lift and a short follow through. 1961 Times 19 Jan. 3/7 This highly mobile dangerous centre forward who was prepared to shoot on sight with scarcely any backlift. |
| 1950 R. H. Bomback Cine Data Book 78 ‘Baby’ Solarspot..small size unit for modelling, *back-lighting, front and cross-lighting. Ibid., General-purpose lamp, particularly suited for back-lighting. 1959 Halas & Manvell Technique Film Anim. 336 Back lighting is used on the rostrum camera beneath either a drawing or a celluloid to give a silhouette or a transparent effect. |
| 1713 T. Parkyns Inn-Play (1727) 53 Stand with that Toe out and Leg bent, over which he intends to take the Buttock, or *Back-lock. |
| 1876 Daily News 28 Sept. 4/4 The death of a *back overman, two miners, and a driver. |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Back-painting, the art of pasting of prints and other designs on glass. 1815 Encycl. Brit. III. 309 Back-painting, the method of painting mezzotinto prints, pasted on glass, with oil colours. |
| a 1575 Abp. Parker Corr. 158 Prayers, for the Queen's Majesty's prosperity and continuance; where others say their *back pater⁓nosters for her in corners. |
| 1844 Lillywhite's Illustr. Hand-Bk. Cricket 19 Forward play..is more pleasing and graceful..than *back play. 1897 K. S. Ranjitsinhji Jubilee Bk. Cricket iv. 158 All the really strong back-players draw back in making back-strokes. |
| 1860 Encycl. Brit. XX. 600/2 The mean *back-pressure..exceeds the pressure of condensation. a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 206/2 Back-pressure valve, a ball or clack-valve in a pipe. 1930 Engineering 5 Dec. 699/2 To this station will be supplied all the surplus power generated by the back-pressure turbine. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 69/1 Back-pressure, air pressure in pipes when it exceeds atmospheric pressure. 1962 Times 28 Sept. 17/3 The backgrounds, whether painted or back-projected, are handsome and spare. |
| 1933 A. Brunel Filmcraft 153 *Back projection, projection on to a transparent surface, with the projector behind the screen, hidden from the view of the audience in a cinema and from the view of the camera in a studio. 1939 J. Dell Nobody Ordered Wolves vii. 90 Back-projection..is a process by means of which an actor in Hertfordshire can be shown in Hyde Park, or the Bois, or the plains of Tibet. By the simple expedient of placing the actor in front of a screen on which is projected a film of the required setting, and by synchronising the two cameras. |
| 1465 Paston Lett. 522 II. 224 Thou comyst in with many *bak rekenyngges. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts 142 Thou callest me to a backe-reckoning for the very sins of my youth. |
| 1711 in Lond. Gaz. No. 4868/4 A white Spot on the middle of his Back made by the chafing of a *back Rope. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast. xxxv. 132 Tackle [was] got upon the martingale backrope. c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 57 The cat is hooked, by means of the back-rope, to the ring of the anchor. |
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 206/2 *Back-saw, a saw whose web is stiffened by a metallic back of greater substance; as, a tenon saw. |
| 1817 Byron Beppo xli, Much like the *back scene of a play. |
| 1879 J. Robertson in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 396/1 Between the roller-beam and the creels the *back-shaft extends to each end of the mule. |
| 1860 Eng. & Foreign Mining Gloss. (ed. 2) 48 Newcastle Mining Terms..*Back-shift, the second set of hewers in each day. |
| 1919 D. W. Johnson Shore Processes & Devel. iv. 161 This zone is already well known as the foreshore. Back of it is the portion of the shore covered by water during exceptional storms only, which I propose to call the *backshore. 1937 Wooldridge & Morgan Physical Basis Geogr. xxi. 322 We may thus distinguish the ‘foreshore’..from the ‘backshore’ lying immediately at the cliff-foot. |
| 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 218 *Back-shutters or *Back-flaps, Additional breadths hinged to the front shutters. |
| 1915 A. J. Sylvester Underwood Typewriter Manual i. 13 The *back space key is at the upper left-hand side of the keyboard. 1919 B. de Bear Typewriting from A to Z xix. 39 Back-space once for every character and space in the title to be centred. |
| 1907 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 1 Mar. 432/1 The *back-spacer key..causes the carriage to move backward one space. 1962 Which? Dec. 355/1 The action of the back spacer..was a little doubtful, sometimes jumping two spaces. |
| 1919 B. de Bear Typewriting from A to Z xxii. 46 It is a question of *back-spacing after the first character has been written, so as to type the second on the same point. 1957 Economist 19 Oct. 205/1 A Stenorette [dictating machine]..has..automatic back-spacing and erase facilities. |
| 1916 E. F. Benson David Blaize x. 200 He chipped at it [sc. the ball] with a lot of *back-spin. 1920 E. R. Wilson in P. F. Warner Cricket ii. 84 Back spin is undercut applied to the back half of the ball, and is more easily put on with a low action. 1926 Amer. Speech I. 632/1 Backspin, when put on the ball [in golf] brings a special kind of stop shot. |
| 1548 Hall Chron. (1809) 425 Lytle avayleth outward Warre, except there be a stedfast *Back⁓stande at home. |
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 203 If one *backstep be as much as foresteps three. |
| 1762 Ince & Mayhew Univ. Syst. Houshold Furniture 8/1 Four Designs of *Back Stool Chairs... Four more Designs of Back Stools. 1945 Burlington Mag. July 164/2 The single chair was called at first a ‘back-stool’; for it was not a variation of the armchair by the removal of the arms, but a development of the stool, to which, in order to make it more comfortable, a back was added—hence the name back-stool. 1952 J. Gloag Dict. Furn. 121 Although referred to in Elizabethan inventories, back stools were not in common use until the middle years of the 17th century, and the name survived during the 18th century. |
| 1905 Cycling 24 May 441/3 The teeming thousands on the terraces above the *back-straight. 1952 M. Duggan in D. M. Davin N.Z. Short Stories (1953) 246 She saw them go into the bend and show again..across the back-straight. |
| 1844 Baker in Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. i. 32 The land..is ploughed as the work proceeds by what is termed *back⁓striking. |
| 1785 Cowper Task iv. 227 Misses, at whose age their mothers wore The *backstring, and the bib. |
| c 1850 Rudim. Nav. (Weale) 120 The top-timber sweep, or *back sweep, is that which forms the hollow of the top-timber. |
| 1862 Athenæum No. 1830. 660 The *backswimmer..has..the faculty of entangling air in the hairs of its body. |
| a 1656 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 159 Excesse in diet and clothes, in belly-cheer, and *back-timber. |
| 1640 Lawefulnesse Exp. into Eng. 4 He hath followed the *back trade of our defection..The Lord therefore is still on the *back trade. |
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. i. iii. 131, I haue the *backe-tricke, simply as strong as any man in Illyria. |
| 1599 Nashe Lent. Stuffe 13 This and euery towne hath his *backewinters or frostes that nippe it in the blade. 1649 Selden Laws of Eng. ii. xl. (1739) 174 Yet like a dead Calm in a hot Spring, treasured up in store sad distempers against a back-Winter. 1881 W. D. Howells Let. 27 Feb. in Amer. N. & Q. (1963) 133/1 What the Canadians call the back-winter: the two months of mud and snow that precede the spring. |
| 1841 R. W. Hamilton Nugæ Literariæ 357 ‘In consequence of her death, I was obliged to give a party who were to have dined with me *backword;’ that is, put them off. 1937 J. B. Priestley I have been here Before i. 6 We ought to..charge 'em a deposit when they book rooms in advance, and then if they do give backword we're not clean out o' pocket. |
| a 1682 Sir T. Browne Tracts 115 That obstinate disease of the Filander or *Back-worm. |
| 1598 Florio, Consolida maggiore, the herbe Comfrie, Knit-backe or *backwoort. |
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back catalogue n. (a list of) all the works previously produced and still owned by a publisher, record company, film company, etc.; (also) the previous or complete works of a particular (
esp. musical) artist, etc.
| 1934 N.Y. Times 10 Feb. 13/6 The Edward B. Marks Music Corporation, with its *back catalogue of hits, collected on 250 uses of its songs in the movies. 1944 Times 9 June 10/2 A firm..such as ours, with a magnificent back catalogue.., has unique advantages to offer to its authors. 1989 Dirty Linen Spring 6/3 The Battlefield Band's back catalog has been released on CD by Temple Records. 1997 Sight & Sound Jan. 42/4 You can forgive Disney for milking its own back catalogue—Roger's computer game is based on the original One Hundred and One Dalmatians cartoon. |
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back-court n. Basketball that half of a court containing the basket defended by a particular team; (also) the defensive players who normally occupy positions on this half of the court;
cf. frontcourt n. 2b.
| 1917 Fort Wayne (Indiana) News 2 Jan. 12/1 (heading) The Lyceum back court men proved better defenders. 1969 Z. Hollander Mod. Encycl. Basketball 441/1 A team's front court consists of that part of the court between its end line and the nearer edge of the division line and including its [target] basket and the inbounds part of its backboard. A team's back court consists of the rest of the court including its opponents' basket and inbounds part of the backboard and the entire division line. 1993 Chicago Tribune 29 May ii. 3/2 A team's front line consists of its three tallest players—the center and two forwards. Its backcourt means the two guards. |
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back story n. a history or background story;
spec. one created for a fictional character or situation,
esp. in a film or television series.
| 1982 Associated Press Newswire (Nexis) 26 Mar. They had been compiling characters and *back stories for a prospective serial for several years. 1995G. Fuller in M. Leigh Naked & Other Sceenplays p. xxiv, In each case, the back story we've created becomes part of the texture of the film. 2002 Time 1 Apr. 63/2 In addition to the case's back story..the defense provided other fireworks for the media circus in attendance. |