Part 848

<hw>Back</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>v. i.</tt> <wordforms>[<tt>imp. & p. p.</tt> <er>Backed</er> <tt>(<?/)</tt>; <tt>p. pr. & vb. n.</tt> <er>Backing</er>.]</wordforms>

<p><b>1.</b> <def>To get upon the back of; to mount.</def>

<blockquote>I will <b>back</b> him [a horse] straight. <i> Shak.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>To place or seat upon the back.</def> <mark>[R.]</mark>

<blockquote>Great Jupiter, upon his eagle <b>backed</b>, Appeared to me. <i> Shak.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>3.</b> <def>To drive or force backward; to cause to retreat or recede; <as>as, to <ex>back</ex> oxen</as>.</def>

<p><b>4.</b> <def>To make a back for; to furnish with a back; <as>as, to <ex>back</ex> books</as>.</def>

<p><b>5.</b> <def>To adjoin behind; to be at the back of.</def>

<blockquote>A garden . . . with a vineyard <b>backed</b>. <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>The chalk cliffs which <b>back</b> the beach. <i>Huxley.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>6.</b> <def>To write upon the back of; <as>as, to <ex>back</ex> a letter</as>; to indorse; <as>as, to <ex>back</ex> a note or legal document</as>.</as></def>

<p><b>7.</b> <def>To support; to maintain; to second or strengthen by aid or influence; <as>as, to <ex>back</ex> a friend</as>.</def> "Parliament would be <i>backed</i> by the people."

<i>Macaulay.</i>

<blockquote>Have still found it necessary to <b>back</b> and fortify their laws with rewards and punishments. <i> South.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>The mate <b>backed</b> the captain manfully. <i> Blackw. Mag.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>8.</b> <def>To bet on the success of; -- as, to <i>back</i> a race horse.</def>

<cs><col>To back an anchor</col> <fld>(Naut.)</fld>, <cd>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.</cd> -- <col>To back the field</col>, <cd>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.</cd> -- <col>To back the oars</col>, <cd>to row backward with the oars.</cd> -- <col>To back a rope</col>, <cd>to put on a preventer.</cd> -- <col>To back the sails</col>, <cd>to arrange them so as to cause the ship to move astern.</cd> -- <col>To back up</col>, <cd>to support; to sustain; as, to back up one's friends.</cd> -- <col>To back a warrant</col> <fld>(Law)</fld>, <cd>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.</cd> -- <col>To back water</col> <fld>(Naut.)</fld>, <cd>to reverse the action of the oars, paddles, or propeller, so as to force the boat or ship backward.</cd></cs>

<h1>Back</h1> <Xpage=110>

<hw>Back</hw>, <tt>v. i.</tt> <p><b>1.</b> <def>To move or go backward; <as>as, the horse refuses to <ex>back</ex></as>.</def>

<p><b>2.</b> <fld>(Naut.)</fld> <def>To change from one quarter to another by a course opposite to that of the sun; -- used of the wind.</def>

<p><b>3.</b> <fld>(Sporting)</fld> <def>To stand still behind another dog which has poined; -- said of a dog.</def> <mark>[Eng.]</mark>

<cs><col>To back and fill</col>, <cd>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.</cd> Hence: (<i>Fig</i>.) <cd>To take opposite positions alternately; to assert and deny.</cd> <mark>[Colloq.]</mark> -- <mcol><col>To back out</col>, <col>To back down</col></mcol>, <cd>to retreat or withdraw from a promise, engagement, or contest; to recede.</cd> <mark>[Colloq.]</mark></cs>

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

<h1>Back</h1> <Xpage=110>

<hw>Back</hw>, <tt>adv.</tt> <ety>[Shortened from <ets>aback</ets>.]</ety> <p><b>1.</b> <def>In, to, or toward, the rear; <as>as, to stand <ex>back</ex>; to step <ex>back</ex>.</as></def>

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

<p><b>3.</b> <def>To a former state, condition, or station; <as>as, to go <ex>back</ex> to private life; to go <ex>back</ex> to barbarism.</as></def>

<p><b>4.</b> <def>( Of time) In times past; ago.</def> "Sixty or seventy years <i>back</i>."