▪ I. backward, adv., a., n.
(ˈbækwəd)
Forms: 4–6 bak-, bac-, backward(e, 5 bakeword, 6 bacewarde, (Sc. bakwart), 6–7 backeward, 6– backward.
[orig. aphetic form of aback-ward; but subseq. referred directly to back: see -ward. Primarily abackward differed from aback, in expressing direction rather than completed motion; and this still to some extent distinguishes backward from back.]
A. adv. I. Towards one's back, or the back of anything.
1. a. Of motion: In the direction of one's back or of that to which one's back is turned, as to lean backward, bend backward, fall backward, push backward, be pushed backward backward.
| 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 190 He smote him in the helm, bakwarde he bare his stroupe. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. xxvi. (1495) 456 By vyolente puttynge of ayre bakward the body of the byrde meuyth forwarde. c 1400 Destr. Troy xv. 6636 Bold men bakward borne of hor horses. 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. iv. 18 He fell downe bacwarde from the seate..and brake his neck. 1697 Dryden Virg., Georg. iii. 174 Clouds of Sand arise, Spurn'd, and cast backward on the Follower's Eyes. 1797 Holcroft Stolberg's Trav. II. lx. 362 Short horns bent backward. 1813 Examiner 29 Mar. 207/1 The bending of the back bone, backward and forward. 1833 Regul. Instr. Cavalry i. 22 Bending backward or forward is not to be permitted. |
b. With verbs of continuous motion, as go backward, walk backward, ride backward, this passes from simple direction, into a description of the constant position of the body in relation to the varying direction of motion; = With the back foremost, with the face to the rear.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2042 A mantil on his nec he tok & bakward ȝod, als sais þe bok. 1388 Wyclif Gen. ix. 23 Sem and Jafeth..ȝeden bacward. 1561 Calvin's 4 Godlye Serm. iv, Like kicking and resty horses, more ready to go backwarde than forward. 1602 Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 206 If like a Crab you could go backward. 1726 Vanbr. & Cibber Prov. Husb. i. i. (1735) 30 Doll puked a little with riding backward. 1842 J. H. Newman Par. Serm. V. viii. 124 We walk to heaven backward. 1850 Lytton My Novel ii. xii, He turned sharply round..and, with his arm still folded on his breast, he walked backward, as if not to lose the view. |
c. to go backward: to retire for a necessary purpose (hence said of the action). Obs.
| 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. (1804) I. xi. 59 My companion's bowels being disordered he got up in order to go backward. 1771 J. S. Le Dran's Obs. Surg. 185 The Patient..went backward immediately. Ibid. 210 No Discharge backward. |
† 2. Of position: With the back towards the front, the company, centre of attention, etc. Obs.
| c 1460 Bk. Curtasye in Babees Bk. (1868) 302 Ne bacwarde sittande gyf noȝt þy cupe. |
† 3. Of position: Toward the back or rear of a place; away from the front. arch. or Obs.; commonly back, to the back, at the back.
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. 204 Whi stand ye so bakward? 1673 Wycherley Gentl. Danc. M. i. i. (1735) 12 You know my Chamber is backward, and has a door into the Gallery. 1715 Lond. Gaz. No. 5328/4 A small Scar lying backward under one of his Jaws. 1716–8 Lady Montague Lett. 36 I. 137 The women's apartments are always built backward, removed from sight. 1729 Desaguliers in Phil. Trans. XXXVI. 202 If the Pulley be set backwarder still. 1812 Examiner 19 Oct. 672/2 Some injury is also done backward. |
II. Towards what is behind in position or course.
4. In the direction which, so far as concerns one's general or ordinary position, is behind one, or from which one is moving, e.g. to look, turn the head backward. arch.; commonly back, behind.
(This connects the present section with I.)
| c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 764 Sche loketh bakward to the lond. 1388 Wyclif John xx. 14 Sche turnede bacward, and sai Jhesu stondinge. a 1575 Pilkington Exp. Nehemiah iv. Wks. (1842) 406 Let us..not look backward but go on forth. 1611 Bible Gen. ix. 23 Shem and Iaphet..went backward [= 1 b]..and their faces were backward. 1695 Ld. Preston Boeth. iii. 157 That he his Eyes shan't backward cast. 1728 Young Love Fame i. (1757) 84 Men should press forward in fame's glorious chace; Nobles look backward, and so lose the race. 1855 Browning in Sat. Rev. No. 4. 69 Whom else could I dare look backward for? |
5. a. In the direction from which one has come, towards the place of starting, in the opposite direction from that in which one has advanced.
Not properly used of persons, animals, etc., where it would be ambiguous; e.g. a ball may roll backward, a stream flow backward, but a man after proceeding so far will begin to walk back or in the opposite direction, not backward, unless in sense 1 b. But see b.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 1525 And thou Simois..Returne backwarde to thy well. 1517 R. Torkington Pilgr. (1884) 57 We..sumtyme sealyd bakward, sumtyme forward. Ibid. 63 We made Sayle bakward j C myle. 1535 Coverdale 2 Esdras xvi. 16 Like as an arowe..returneth not bacwarde. 1589 A. Munday in Arber Eng. Garner (1877) I. 206 Straightway suspected the matter: and returned backward. 1673 Dryden Assignat. v. iv. Wks. 1883 IV. 464 Like some impetuous flood, which mastered once, With double force bends backward. 1802 Chron. Scot. Poetry iv. Introd. 37 The hope..of the Angli began to melt and flow backward. 1827 Keble Chr. Year, 1st Sund. Christmas iii, Backward force the waves of Time. |
b. backward and forward: to and fro; also fig. of vacillation, uncertain speech, etc.
| 1581 Fulke in Confer. iii. (1584) Y iij b, Euen nowe, you denied..and now you graunt it: you go backward and foreward. 1680 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 57 Goeing backward and forward in his accusation. a 1711 Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 274 The Serpent wav'd his Carcase..Backward and forward. 1715 Burnet Own Time (1766) II. 234 The boy went backward and forward in his story. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §237 Carried backward and forward in the yawls every tide. 1833 Macaulay Mahon's War Success., Ess. (1848) II. 93 Imputations..utterly unfounded..were hurled backward and forward by the political disputants. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 2 This regular backward-and-forward movement of the great mass of water. |
6. In the direction of retreat. (Commonly back.) † to go backward: to recede, retreat; to relapse, backslide (obs.).
| 1382 Wyclif Psa. xl. 14 Be thei turned al bacward. c 1400 Rom. Rose 5024 The joy that is eterne, Fro which go bakward Youthe her made. 1535 Coverdale Isa. i. 4 They haue prouoked the holy one of Israel vnto anger, and are gone bacward. 1611 ibid. Let them be driuen backward, and put to shame. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 223 The flames Drivn backward slope their pointing spires. 1821 Byron Sardan. iii. i. 324 They are beaten backward from the palace. |
7. fig. Towards a worse state, implying retrogression, check, etc. (More commonly back.)
| 1583 Stanyhurst Aeneis ii. (Arb.) 55 Al things goa backward. 1601 Shakes. All's Well i. i. 233 The fated skye..doth backward pull Our slow designes. a 1700 Dryden (J.) The work went backward, and the more he strove T'advance the suit, the further from her love. 1776 Adam Smith Wealth Nat. I. i. ix. 95 It is a common..opinion that France is going backward. |
8. Of time: a. Towards the past; b. In the past. (arch.; commonly back.)
| 1562 Pilkington Haggeus ii. Wks. (1842) 176 He bids them look backward..whole forty years. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. v. §1 By a computation backward from ourselves. 1625 Burges Pers. Tithes 55 This Statute extendeth to 40 yeares backe-ward. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 31 For any number of years backward. 1871 Smiles Character xi. (1876) 305 It glorifies the present by the light it casts backward. |
III. In the reverse direction or order. [Arising out of 5.]
9. a. In a direction opposite to the normal one, the reverse way; from end to beginning.
| a 1520 Myrr. Our Ladye 295 Eua turned bacwarde spellyth aue. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. i. 50 What is Ab speld backward with the horn on his head? 1674 Playford Skill Mus. ii. 104 The first Note must be plaid with the bow drawn backward. 1839 Bailey Festus (1848) 195 Rites forbid and backward-jabbered prayers. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 23 The root of the costermonger tongue..is to give the words spelt backward. |
b. fig. The wrong way, perversely.
| 1552 Lyndesay Papyngo 706 Deuotely saye..The auld Placebo bakwart. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. i. 61, I neuer yet saw man..how rarely featur'd, But she would spell him backward. |
10. Phrase: to ring bells backward: to ring them beginning with the bass bell, in order to give alarm of fire or invasion, or express dismay.
| c 1500 Adam Bel 346 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 153 There was many an oute horne in Carlyll blowen, And the belles bacewarde did they rynge. 1590 R. Harvey Plain Perc. 2, I heare the bels ring backward, and the fire runne forward. 1651 Cleveland Rebel Scot 5 Ring the Bells backward; I am all on fire. 1672 Wild Letter 11 [They] talk'd of Bells and Bonfires; but none..durst begin, for fear they should..when the Parliament meet, be forced to ring the Bells backward. a 1832 Scott Bonnie Dundee, The bells are rung backward, the drums they are beat. |
† 11. Contrariwise, e converso, vice versa. Obs.
| 1607 Bp. Andrewes Serm. IV. 10 All that ‘rise against,’ are ‘enemies,’ but not backward. For enemies may be such as stand on even ground. |
12. With pr. pple. forming adjectives, as backward-bending, backward-curving, backward-facing, backward-gazing, backward-looking, backward-sloping.
| 1932 Auden Orators ii. 51 He has the same backward-bending thumb that I have. |
| 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 142 And one intense and backward-curving frisson Seizes you. 1951 Sci. News Let. 18 Aug. 102/1 Backward-facing seats for passengers in airplanes are again recommended by the U.S. Air Force as a forward step in lessening injuries in case of a crash. 1952 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. Feb. 91/1 There is no doubt that the backward-facing seat..offers ideal protection. |
| 1896 Kipling Seven Seas 57 Hedged in a backward-gazing world. |
| 1846 Whittier Reformer in Poet. Wks. (1898) 399/1 Backward-looking son of time. 1950 H. J. Massingham Curious Traveller iii. 55 A few lights of experience more memorable to my backward-looking glance than others. 1962 Listener 5 July 28/2 Is this nostalgic, rurally romantic, backward looking art a true reflection of Australia? |
| 1944 A. L. Rowse Eng. Spirit 245 That familiar backward-sloping hand. |
B. adj. [attrib. (often elliptical) use of the adv.; but analogous to adjs. in -ward of OE. origin.]
1. In Cricket, directed to the back or rear. (a) of play or a player = back play (see back- B); (b) of a fieldsman or his position: farther from the line of the wicket than is standard practice, as backward point, the position of point when standing a little behind the line of the wicket for certain kinds of bowling.
| 1552 Huloet, Backwarde, recuruus..retrorsus. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 48 With backward Bows the Parthians shall be there. 1844 Lillywhite's Hand-Bk. Cricket 18 The length to pitch your ball depends very much upon your pace, as well as the batsman's style of forward, or backward play. 1870 New Sporting Mag. Aug. 112 It was a great treat to see a forward player and a backward player in together. 1882 Proper Pride ii. 145 Many regretful backward glances. 1883 Loomis Treat. Astron. 18 The forward motion of a boat..gives to the banks an appearance of backward motion. 1904 P. F. Warner How we recovered the Ashes ix. 189 Rhodes caught him easily at backward point. 1926 Times 19 Aug. 5/2 He had Mr. Ponsford caught at backward point. 1955 Times 9 May 15/1 He would certainly have benefited from a backward short leg. 1959 Daily Mail 20 Feb. 10/4 The ball was turned by Cowdrey sharply to backward square leg. |
| fig. 1860 J. Young Prov. Reason 45 The last, dim..point in the backward stretch of the reason. |
2. Directed in the opposite way; of or pertaining to return.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. i. iii. 38 Their backward course. 1820 Keats Hyperion i. 154 With backward footing through the shade. 1870 Bryant Homer I. iii. 81 And takes the backward way with trembling limbs. 1884 Gt. W. Ry. Time Tables July 87 Available for Two Calendar Months for completion of the forward and backward journeys. |
3. Done in the reverse way or order; reversed.
| 1725 Pope Odyss. ii. 124 The backward labours of her faithless hand. 1726 Gay Fables i. xxiii. 17 She mumbles forth her backward prayers. 1878 Tait & Stewart Unseen Univ. vii. §230 When the backward process has reached this germ. |
† 4. Perverse, unfavourable. Obs.
| 1583 Stanyhurst Aeneis i. (Arb.) 18 Stil crost with destenye backward. a 1605 Sir J. Melvil Mem. (1683) 5 Who was so glad as he, to return with this backward answer? |
† 5. Placed towards or at the back or rear. Obs.
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. ii. 95 His forward voyce now is to speake well of his friend; his backward voice, is to vtter foule speeches. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 156 The backward Hips..in the way of an Angle for the back part of a Building. 1751 Johnson Rambl. No. 171 ¶9 A lodging in the backward garret of a mean house. 1819 Crabbe T. of Hall vii. 572 ‘He..lodges here—he has the backward rooms.’ |
6. a. Turning or hanging back from action; disinclined to advance or make advances; reluctant, averse, unwilling, loath, chary; shy, bashful.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. iii. 72 Perish the man, whose mind is backward now. 1673 Cradock Knowl. & Pract. i. ii. §2 Prone to evil, and backward to good. c 1680 Beveridge Serm. (1729) II. 510 Take pains with your backward hearts to bring them to it. 1704 Swift T. Tub xi. Wks. 1760 I. 123 The females were nothing backwarder in beholding. 1762 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) II. 77 The..nobility were not backward with presents of the same nature. 1782 Priestley Corrupt. Chr. I. i. 13 The apostles were never backward to combat other Jewish prejudices. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey i. i. 2 Percy Metcalfe..was quite as backward as Vivian; indeed, backwarder. |
b. backward in coming forward, reluctant, shy (to do something). Cf. come v. 58.
| 1830 Fraser's Mag. I. 295 Mr. Hogg..never has been..very backward in coming forward. 1833 Dickens Let. ? 10 Dec. (1965) 33 They are ‘rather backward in coming forward’ with the needful. 1862 Trollope Orley F. II. xxxvii. 291, I must say you're rather backward in coming forward. 1955 L. P. Hartley Perfect Woman xxxii. 293 He's not usually backward in coming forward, is he? |
7. a. Behindhand in respect of time or progress, late.
| 1693 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 15 Which will occasion the French to be 6 weeks backwarder in their preparations. 1777 Hume Ess. & Treat. II. 43 A very backward scholar. 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain §1. 21 The inns of Spain are in that backward state in which those of Sicily are. 1871 W. Markby Elem. Law §530 The law is here certainly in a backward condition. 1883 tr. Renan's Recoll. Youth 24 If a child was backward in learning to walk. |
b. esp. of the season or crops.
| 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 28 The yeare will proue backward. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France I. 8 Harvest..is extremely backward this year. 1812 Examiner 5 Oct. 629/2 Turnips, a fair crop, although backward. 1836 Athenæum No. 440. 241 The season though somewhat backward promises an abundant harvest. |
8. Reaching into the past.
| c 1650 Select. Harl. Misc. (1793) 401 A tax backward, to be paid over again. 1725 Pope Odyss. iii. 122 Far as thy mind thro' backward time can see. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. ii. xxiv. Each backward year. |
9. backward scattering = back scattering.
| 1938 R. W. Lawson tr. Hevesy & Paneth's Man. Radioactivity (ed. 2) iii. 47 With β-rays..an appreciable fraction of the β-particles is scattered in the backward direction; in fact..the number of electrons emitted..falls off because of this process of backward scattering. 1962 Gloss. Terms Nuclear Sci. (B.S.I.) 12 Backward scattering, the deflexion of particles or of radiation by scattering processes through angles greater than 90° to the original direction of motion. |
C. n. [The adj. or adv. used absolutely.]
† 1. lit. The hinder part of the body. Obs.
| 1627 Massinger Gt. Dk. Flor. ii. i, I should Have kissed her backward. |
2. poet. The past portion (of time).
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 50 What see'st thou else In the dark backward and abisme of Time? 1870 Lowell Study Wind. 91 One volume of contemporary memoirs..will throw more light into the dark backward of time than, etc. |
▪ II. ˈbackward, v. Obs. exc. dial.
Also dial. backard.
[f. backward a. Cf. to forward.]
1. To put or keep back, delay, retard. Hence backwarding vbl. n., the action of going backward; phr. backwarding and forwarding, ‘to-ing and fro-ing’.
| 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 3 Whereby he did greatly backward the tree in his bearing. 1642 Declar. Lords & Comm. 16 Nov. 4 To hinder or backward the said former undertakings. a 1660 Hammond Serm. xv. (R.) One that doth so clog and trash, so disadvantage and backward us. 1765 Museum Rusticum III. xlix. 208 It [the cutting-down of the first growth] seems therefore a backwarding of the growth of the hedge several years for no advantage. 1873 M. E. Braddon L. Davoren III. xiv. 39 As long as she do fret and werrit herself so, she'll keep backarding of her recovery. 1892 Stevenson & Osbourne Wrecker x. 167 And now, after all this backwarding and forwarding, and that hotel clerk, and that bug Bellairs, it'll be a change..to see the schooner. |
† 2. To send back, return. Obs.
| 1789 E. Sheridan Jrnl. 28 Feb. (1960) 151 The enclosures which to use your own phrase I backward to you. |