back

Adjective

• of an earlier date
  • back issues of the magazine
    

• located at or near the back of an animal
  • back (or hind) legs
    
  • the hinder part of a carcass
    

• related to or located at the back
  • the back yard
    
  • the back entrance
    

Verb

• strengthen by providing with a back or backing

• establish as valid or genuine
  • Can you back up your claims?
    

• shift to a counterclockwise direction
  • the wind backed
    

• place a bet on
  • Which horse are you backing?
    
  • I'm betting on the new horse
    

• be in back of
  • My garage backs their yard
    

• support financial backing for
  • back this enterprise
    

• cause to travel backward
  • back the car into the parking spot
    

• give support or one's approval to
  • I'll second that motion
    
  • I can't back this plan
    
  • endorse a new project
    

• travel backward
  • back into the driveway
    
  • The car backed up and hit the tree
    

• be behind; approve of
  • He plumped for the Labor Party
    
  • I backed Kennedy in 1960
    

Noun

• (American football) the position of a player on a football team who is stationed behind the line of scrimmage

• a support that you can lean against while sitting
  • the back of the dental chair was adjustable
    

• the part of a garment that covers the back of your body
  • they pinned a `kick me' sign on his back
    

• the protective covering on the front, back, and spine of a book
  • the book had a leather binding
    

• the series of vertebrae forming the axis of the skeleton and protecting the spinal cord
  • the fall broke his back
    

• (football) a person who plays in the backfield

• the part of something that is furthest from the normal viewer
  • he stood at the back of the stage
    
  • it was hidden in the rear of the store
    

• the side that goes last or is not normally seen
  • he wrote the date on the back of the photograph
    

• the posterior part of a human (or animal) body from the neck to the end of the spine
  • his back was nicely tanned
    

Adverb

• in repayment or retaliation
  • we paid back everything we had borrowed
    
  • he hit me and I hit him back
    
  • I was kept in after school for talking back to the teacher
    

• in reply
  • he wrote back three days later
    

• in or to or toward a past time
  • set the clocks back an hour
    
  • never look back
    
  • lovers of the past looking fondly backward
    

• in or to or toward an original condition
  • he went back to sleep
    

• at or to or toward the back or rear
  • he moved back
    
  • tripped when he stepped backward
    
  • she looked rearward out the window of the car
    

• in or to or toward a former location
  • she went back to her parents' house
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  back(a) , hind(a) , hinder(a) , back up , bet on , gage , stake , game , punt , second , endorse , indorse , plump for , plunk for , support , backrest , binding , book binding , cover , spinal column , vertebral column , spine , backbone , rachis , rear , dorsum , backward , backwards , rearward , rearwards
• Antonyms: 
  front(a) , veer , front , look , face , advance , bring forward , ahead , forward , forwards , frontward , frontwards , forrad , forrard