back

1. (not comparable) To or in a previous condition or place.Examples: "He gave back the money."; "I left my mobile phone back at the hotel. I’ll have to go back and get it."; "We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines."not-comparable

2. (not comparable) In a reciprocal manner; in return.Examples: "If you hurt me, I’ll hurt you back."; "The light bounces back off the mirror."; "I was at Park Safari Africa in Canada on the Canadian border. This was years ago outside of Plattsburgh, New York. And I had a new car at the time, and I was driving through, going through the monkey area. And they said 'beware of the monkeys.' So about ten of them circled my car. And this one special one, like he was the leader of the pack, jumped up on the hood and came right up to the windshield and looked in. So I was like making faces at him. [garbled] 'don't do that!' And believe it or not, he made like a face back. He jumped off the car. He took his fingernails and he peeled all the chrome on both sides of my car off. Picked it up, jumped on the hood, dropped it and left- looked at me and left."not-comparable

3. (postpositive) Earlier, ago.Examples: "We met many years back."; "I last saw him a day or two back."; "Our road was chiefly through woods, and part of it lay through the Hurricane-track, that is where a strong wind, some years back, opened a passage through the woods for a mile in breadth..."postpositional

1. The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.Examples: "Take the average black man and ask him that. She gotta pack much back."; "He got his hand on her behind and caressed her firm, ample flesh.[…]“You got some back on you, girl.”"; "Back so big, look like your jeans shrunk in the wash / And we don't really need Netflix, I'mma give you something to watch"slanguncountable

2. The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.Examples: "I still need to finish the back of your dress."figuratively

3. The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.Examples: "Do thou but think / What ’tis to cram a maw or clothe a back / From such a filthy vice"obsolete

4. That which is farthest away from the front.Examples: "Convenience and custom have familiarised us to the printed page being a little higher than the middle of the leaf, and to its having a little more margin at the fore edge than in the back."

5. That which is farthest away from the front.Examples: "The backs were lined up in an I formation."; "[…]Rovers were also aided by some poor defending from West Brom, whose lapses at the back undid their excellent work on the ball and condemned Roberto di Matteo's Baggies side to a third straight defeat."

6. (figuratively) The upper part of a natural object which is considered to resemble an animal’s back.Examples: "The small boat raced over the backs of the waves."figuratively

1. (intransitive) To go in the reverse direction.Examples: "The train backed into the station."; "The horse refuses to back."; "Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you’re run off your course again. This is a rich man’s summer ‘cottage’ […].” So I started to back away again into the bushes. But I hadn’t backed more’n a couple of yards when I see something so amazing that I couldn’t help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it."intransitive

2. (transitive) To support.Examples: "I back you all the way."; "Which horse are you backing in this race?"; "And Netherlands, backed by a typically noisy and colourful travelling support, started the second period in blistering fashion and could have had four goals within 10 minutes"transitive

3. (nautical, of the wind) To change direction contrary to the normal pattern; that is, to shift anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere, or clockwise in the southern hemisphere.

4. (nautical, of a square sail) To brace the yards so that the wind presses on the front of the sail, to slow the ship.

5. (nautical, of an anchor) To lay out a second, smaller anchor to provide additional holding power.

6. (UK, of a hunting dog) To stand still behind another dog which has pointed.UK