Part 487

Have still found it necessary to back and fortify their laws with rewards and punishments. South.

The mate backed the captain manfully. Blackw. Mag.

8. To bet on the success of; -- as, to back a race horse.

To back an anchor (Naut.), to lay down a small anchor ahead of a large one, the cable of the small one being fastened to the crown of the large one. -- To back the field, in horse racing, to bet against a particular horse or horses, that some one of all the other horses, collectively designated "the field", will win. -- To back the oars, to row backward with the oars. -- To back a rope, to put on a preventer. -- To back the sails, to arrange them so as to cause the ship to move astern. -- To back up, to support; to sustain; as, to back up one's friends. -- To back a warrant (Law), is for a justice of the peace, in the county where the warrant is to be executed, to sign or indorse a warrant, issued in another county, to apprehend an offender. -- To back water (Naut.), to reverse the action of the oars, paddles, or propeller, so as to force the boat or ship backward.

Back, v. i. 1. To move or go backward; as, the horse refuses to back.

2. (Naut.) To change from one quarter to another by a course opposite to that of the sun; -- used of the wind.

3. (Sporting) To stand still behind another dog which has pointed; -- said of a dog. [Eng.]

To back and fill, to manage the sails of a ship so that the wind strikes them alternately in front and behind, in order to keep the ship in the middle of a river or channel while the current or tide carries the vessel against the wind. Hence: (Fig.) To take opposite positions alternately; to assert and deny. [Colloq.] -- To back out, To back down, to retreat or withdraw from a promise, engagement, or contest; to recede. [Colloq.]

Cleon at first . . . was willing to go; but, finding that he [Nicias] was in earnest, he tried to back out. Jowett (Thucyd. )

Back, adv. [Shortened from aback.] 1. In, to, or toward, the rear; as, to stand back; to step back.

2. To the place from which one came; to the place or person from which something is taken or derived; as, to go back for something left behind; to go back to one's native place; to put a book back after reading it.

3. To a former state, condition, or station; as, to go back to private life; to go back to barbarism.

4. (Of time) In times past; ago. "Sixty or seventy years back." Gladstone.

5. Away from contact; by reverse movement.

The angel of the Lord . . . came, and rolled back the stone from the door. Matt. xxviii. 2.

6. In concealment or reserve; in one's own possession; as, to keep back the truth; to keep back part of the money due to another.

7. In a state of restraint or hindrance.

The Lord hath kept thee back from honor. Numb. xxiv. 11.

8. In return, repayment, or requital.

What have I to give you back? Shak.

9. In withdrawal from a statement, promise, or undertaking; as, he took back the offensive words.

10. In arrear; as, to be back in one's rent. [Colloq.]

Back and forth, backwards and forwards; to and fro. -- To go back on, to turn back from; to abandon; to betray; as, to go back on a friend; to go back on one's professions. [Colloq.]

Back"a*rack (bk"*rk), n. See Bacharach.

Bac*ka"re (&?;), interj. Same as Baccare.

Back"band` (-bnd), n. [2d back, n. + band.] (Saddlery) The band which passes over the back of a horse and holds up the shafts of a carriage.

Back"bite`, v. t. [2d back, n. + bite.] To wound by clandestine detraction; to censure meanly or spitefully (an absent person); to slander or speak evil of (one absent). Spenser.

Back"bite`, v. i. To censure or revile the absent.