back

Less common meanings

14. 14
    nouncountable

    The area behind, such as the yard behind a house or the rear storeroom of a shop.

    The children are playing out the back.

    There may be more stock in the back.

    UsageMost often the back: look in the back of a shop, play out the back of a house.

    Similarrear

    Oppositefront

15. 15
    verbintransitive

    To move backward, or to make someone or something move backward.

    Slowly back out of the drive.

    She backed away from the edge.

    UsageMostly with a particle: back out of a drive, back away from the edge, back into a space.

    Similarreverse

    Oppositeadvance

16. 16
    seat restnouncountable

    The part of a piece of furniture that a person leans or rests against.

    Hang your coat on the back of the seat.

    The pews have straight backs and no cushions.

    Similarbackrest

17. 17
    verbtransitive

    To support a lead singer or musician by playing or singing an accompanying part.

    A string quartet will back the singer on her final song.

    He spent ten years backing country stars as a session drummer.

    UsageCommon phrases include backing vocals, a backing band and backup singers.

    Similaraccompany

    Note

    The whole family applies the general "support" meaning to music: the accompanist supports the lead.

18. 18
    old issueadjective

    Not current, dating from an earlier time.

    Libraries keep back numbers in the basement.

    A back copy costs twice the cover price.

    UsageMostly in set phrases before a noun: back issue, back number, back catalog.

    Similarpast, old, earlier, previous

    Oppositecurrent, latest

19. 19
    overdueadjective

    Owed from an earlier time and still unpaid; in arrears.

    Back taxes can follow you for years.

    She was awarded back wages by the court.

    UsageUsed before money words: back pay, back rent, back taxes.

    Similaroverdue, unpaid, outstanding

    Note

    Set it beside the out-of-date meaning: a back issue is merely old, while back rent is old and still owed.

20. 20
    adjective

    Off the main routes, or away from the busiest parts of a place.

    I know a back way to the station.

    The back streets were empty at noon.

    Similarside, minor

    Oppositemain

21. 21
    adverb

    To a later point in time, as when a meeting, launch or deadline is moved.

    The launch was pushed back two weeks because of supply delays.

    Can we move dinner back to eight? I'm still stuck at the office.

    UsageMostly with push back, move back, put back. Since some people hear this as earlier, give the new time too.

    Oppositeforward

22. 22
    reverse actionadjective

    Moving or operating in a backward direction.

    The pump's back stroke draws the water in.

    Engineers speak of back pressure in the pipe.

    Similarbackward, reverse

    Oppositeforward

23. 23
    adverb

    Trailing the leader or a rival by a stated margin in a race, on the scoreboard, or in league standings.

    With a week left in the season, the Mets are four games back of first place.

    After the third round, she was three strokes back of the leader.

    UsageMostly after a number: four games back, three strokes back of the leader. Behind works the same way.

    Similarbehind

    Oppositeahead

    Note

    Baseball standings print it as a column, games back, often shortened to GB. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Baseball standings include a column showing games back. en.wikipedia.org
    • Games back is abbreviated GB. en.wikipedia.org
24. 24
    verbtransitive

    To stake money on a competitor, such as a horse or team, or on a certain result.

    She backed the long shot at twenty to one and went home with a pile of cash.

    Bookmakers say most gamblers back a draw in Saturday's match.

    UsageSet phrase: back the wrong horse, to support a choice that fails. Often back a team to win.

    Note

    Here support takes the form of money. On betting exchanges its opposite is lay: to back is to bet that something will happen, to lay is to bet that it will not. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • On betting exchanges, backing bets on an outcome happening, while laying bets on it not happening. betfair.com.au
25. 25
    verbtransitive

    To make a back for something or fit it with one, as in binding books.

    The carpenter backed the bookcase with a thin sheet of plywood.

    Framers usually back each print with stiff board before it goes behind glass.

    UsageOften back something with a material: back a quilt with flannel; also compounds like board-backed.

    Note

    A workshop verb made straight from the noun: to back a book is to give it its spine, the bound edge, while a carpenter or framer backs a piece by fitting the panel behind it. Context does the separating, because back a book can just as easily mean to support it.

26. 26
    curvy bottomnounslanguncountable

    Large and attractive buttocks.

    Those jeans really show off how much back she has.

    Gym or no gym, he liked a girl with some back.

    Similarbooty

    Note

    Its landmark is Sir Mix-A-Lot's 1992 song Baby Got Back. The sense turns up again in a 2001 George Pelecanos novel and a 2016 rap track. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Sir Mix-A-Lot recorded Baby Got Back, released in 1992. en.wikipedia.org
    • Baby Got Back uses back in the stated sense. en.wiktionary.org
    • The sense appears in a 2016 rap track, Ladies Hit Squad. en.wiktionary.org
27. 27
    verbtransitive

    To lie at the back of something and border it.

    Steep wooded hills back the little harbor town.

    The house is backed by a nature preserve, so nobody will ever build behind it.

    UsageMost often passive: a beach backed by cliffs, a town backed by hills.

    Similarborder

    Oppositefront

    Note

    Shakespeare has it in Measure for Measure, a garden whose western side is "with a vineyard backed", and Huxley writes of chalk cliffs that back the beach in 1877. Unlike the supporting sense, nothing is helped here: the hills simply stand behind. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Measure for Measure contains the quoted description of a garden; Isabella speaks the lines. rsc.org.uk
    • Thomas Henry Huxley describes chalk cliffs backing a beach in Physiography. en.wiktionary.org
    • Huxley's Physiography was first published in 1877. wellcomecollection.org
28. 28
    adverb

    In a way that hinders someone or something from moving forward or making progress.

    A shortage of skilled workers is holding the whole industry back.

    Thick mud held the convoy back on the final stretch of road.

    UsageMostly in hold back. A pronoun goes before back: hold him back (not incorrect: hold back him).

    Note

    The hindrance may be physical, like mud on a road, or wholly in the mind.

29. 29
    nounobsolete

    Something kept available as a fallback, ready to provide support or resources when needed.

    This project / Should have a back or second, that might hold, / If this should blast in proof.

    c. 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”
30. 30
    noun

    A nonalcoholic drink, commonly water or soda, served alongside spirits or a cocktail.
31. 31
    adjective

    Describing a speech sound, usually a vowel, made with the tongue's highest point near the rear of the mouth.
32. 32
    noun

    The rear section of a garment, lying over the wearer's back.
33. 33
    nounobsolete

    A person's body regarded as what wears garments, kept today in just one idiom, the clothes on one's back.

    Do thou but think / What ’tis to cram a maw or clothe a back / From such a filthy vice

    1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure
34. 34
    noun

    The spine of a book, where its pages are sewn or glued together.
35. 35
    noun

    The blank strip along the inner side of a printed page, next to where it is bound.
36. 36
    noun

    The blunt edge of a knife or other blade, on the opposite side from the sharp one.
37. 37
    noun

    The top surface of a natural feature, such as a ridge or wave, thought of as looking like an animal's back.
38. 38
    noun

    The keel together with the keelson, the timbers running along the bottom of a ship.
39. 39
    noun

    The ceiling of a level tunnel or passage in a mine.
40. 40
    nounslang

    Hard work or exertion, especially of a physical kind.
41. 41
    noun

    In the leather trade, a very thick, heavy tanned hide.
42. 42
    noun

    Short for backstroke, the swimming stroke done lying face up.
43. 43
    verb

    Of the wind, to shift in a counterclockwise direction, for example from south to east.
44. 44
    verb

    To swing a sailing vessel's spars around until the breeze pushes against the forward face of the canvas, which checks its speed.
45. 45
    verb

    To put down a second, lighter anchor in line with the main one so that it holds more firmly.
46. 46
    verbUK

    Of a hunting dog, to freeze in place to honor a second dog that has already found and pointed at game.
47. 47
    verbobsolete

    To climb onto an animal and sit on it, as when getting on a horse.

    I will back him [a horse] straight.

    c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth,”
48. 48
    verbobsolete

    To set someone or something on the back of a horse or other animal.

    Great Jupiter, upon his eagle backed, / Appeared to me.

    1611, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”
49. 49
    verb

    To write something on the reverse side of a document, sometimes as a form of endorsement.
50. 50
    verb

    To sign a warrant issued in a different county so that it can be used to arrest someone locally.
51. 51
    verb

    To work oars in reverse so that a boat slows down or moves stern first.
52. 52
    verbdialectalMulticultural London English

    To bring out a hidden weapon such as a knife from behind one's body.
53. 53
    verbNigeria

    To carry a baby on one's back, often tied on with a cloth.
54. 54
    noun

    A wide, shallow tub or tank used in brewing, distilling, dyeing and similar trades for cooling, mixing or holding liquids.