Words |
Parts of Speech |
Meaning/Definition/Similar Words |
backarack |
noun |
A kind of wine made at Bacharach on the Rhine., See Bacharach. |
backbiter |
noun |
One who backbites; a secret calumniator or detractor. |
backboard |
noun |
A board which supports the back wen one is sitting;, A board serving as the back part of anything, as of a wagon., A thin stuff used for the backs of framed pictures, mirrors, etc., A board attached to the rim of a water wheel to prevent the water from running off the floats or paddies into the interior of the wheel., A board worn across the back to give erectness to the figure. |
backboned |
adjective |
Vertebrate. |
back door |
|
A door in the back part of a building; hence, an indirect way. |
backhouse |
noun |
A building behind the main building. Specifically: A privy; a necessary. |
backjoint |
noun |
A rebate or chase in masonry left to receive a permanent slab or other filling. |
backpiece |
noun |
Alt. of Backplate |
backplate |
noun |
A piece, or plate which forms the back of anything, or which covers the back; armor for the back. |
backshish |
noun |
In Egypt and the Turkish empire, a gratuity; a “tip”. |
backsight |
noun |
The reading of the leveling staff in its unchanged position when the leveling instrument has been taken to a new position; a sight directed backwards to a station previously occupied. Cf. Foresight, n., 3. |
backslide |
verb i. |
To slide back; to fall away; esp. to abandon gradually the faith and practice of a religion that has been professed. |
backstaff |
noun |
An instrument formerly used for taking the altitude of the heavenly bodies, but now superseded by the quadrant and sextant; — so called because the observer turned his back to the body observed. |
backstair |
adjective |
Private; indirect; secret; intriguing; — as if finding access by the back stairs. |
backsword |
noun |
A sword with one sharp edge., In England, a stick with a basket handle, used in rustic amusements; also, the game in which the stick is used. Also called singlestick. |
backwards |
adverb |
With the back in advance or foremost; as, to ride backward., Toward the back; toward the rear; as, to throw the arms backward., On the back, or with the back downward., Toward, or in, past time or events; ago., By way of reflection; reflexively., From a better to a worse state, as from honor to shame, from religion to sin., In a contrary or reverse manner, way, or direction; contrarily; as, to read backwards. |
backwater |
noun |
Water turned back in its course by an obstruction, an opposing current , or the flow of the tide, as in a sewer or river channel, or across a river bar., An accumulation of water overflowing the low lands, caused by an obstruction., Water thrown back by the turning of a waterwheel, or by the paddle wheels of a steamer. |
backwoods |
noun pl. |
The forests or partly cleared grounds on the frontiers. |