backsight
(ˈbækˈsaɪt)
[f. back adv.]
a. In Surveying, a ‘sight’ or reading taken backwards, or towards the point of starting. b. The sight of a rifle nearer the stock.
| 1847 E. Cresy Encycl. Civil Engineering I. 802 Compound Levelling is..performed by taking back and forward sights. 1847 [see sight n.1 14 b]. 1851 R. Glisan in Jrnl. Army Life (1874) 59 A..very heavy and costly gun, with an elevating back sight for shooting at great distances. 1859 Musketry Instruct. 10 Firing without using the back-sight. 1860 All Y. Round No. 71. 501 The back or elevating sight. 1867 Marsh in N.Y. Nation 9 May 373 A backsight is a sight or reading taken backwards; that is, in a direction opposite to that in which the levelling party is proceeding. 1880 Times 18 Oct. 4/3 In using the rifle a native rarely avails himself..of the backsight. 1953 R. J. C. Atkinson Field Archaeol. (ed. 2) iii. 114 The reading to a turning-point from the previous level station is known as a foresight, and that from the next level station as a backsight. |