What does back mean?

What does back mean?. The world's largest and most trusted free online dictionary: definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more.

What does back mean? - The Free Dictionary

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[n] the posterior part of a human (or animal) body from the neck to the end of the spine(his back was nicely tanned)[v] be behind; approve of(He plumped for the Labor Party I backed Kennedy in 1960)[a] related to or located at the back(the back yard the back entrance)[r] in or to or toward

back

back - The Free Dictionary

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

[v] be behind; approve of
(He plumped for the Labor Party I backed Kennedy in 1960)

[a] related to or located at the back
(the back yard the back entrance)

[r] in or to or toward a former location
(she went back to her parents' house)

[n] the side that goes last or is not normally seen
(he wrote the date on the back of the photograph)

[v] travel backward
(back into the driveway The car backed up and hit the tree)

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

[r] 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)

[n] 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)

[v] give support or one's approval to
(I'll second that motion I can't back this plan endorse a new project)

[a] of an earlier date
(back issues of the magazine)

[r] in or to or toward an original condition
(he went back to sleep)

[n] (football) a person who plays in the backfield

[v] cause to travel backward
(back the car into the parking spot)

[r] in or to or toward a past time
(set the clocks back an hour never look back lovers of the past looking fondly backward)

[n] the series of vertebrae forming the axis of the skeleton and protecting the spinal cord
(the fall broke his back)

[v] support financial backing for
(back this enterprise)

[r] in reply
(he wrote back three days later)

[n] the protective covering on the front, back, and spine of a book
(the book had a leather binding)

[v] be in back of
(My garage backs their yard)

[r] 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)

[n] the part of a garment that covers the back of your body
(they pinned a `kick me' sign on his back)

[v] place a bet on
(Which horse are you backing? I'm betting on the new horse)

[n] a support that you can lean against while sitting
(the back of the dental chair was adjustable)

[v] shift to a counterclockwise direction
(the wind backed)

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

[v] establish as valid or genuine
(Can you back up your claims?)

[v] strengthen by providing with a back or backing

Other vocabulary

b, b battery, b cell, b complex, b horizon, b lymphocyte, b vitamin, b-52, b-complex vitamin, b-flat clarinet, b-girl, b-horizon, b-meson, b-scan ultrasonography, b. b. king, b. f. skinner, b.c., b.c.e., b.o., b.t.u., b.th.u., ba, baa, baa-lamb, baader meinhof gang, baader-meinhof gang, baal, baal merodach, baas, baba, a, a battery, a bit, a capella singing, a cappella, a cappella singing, a couple of, a few, a fortiori, a good deal, a great deal, a horizon, a hundred times, a kempis, a la carte, a la mode, a level, a little, a lot, a million times, a posteriori, a priori, a trifle, a'man, a-bomb, a-horizon, a-line, a-list, a-ok, a-okay

Dictionary

A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations, translation, etc. It is a lexicographical reference that shows inter-relationships among the data.

A broad distinction is made between general and specialized dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include words in specialist fields, rather than a complete range of words in the language. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether lexicology and terminology are two different fields of study. In theory, general dictionaries are supposed[citation needed] to be semasiological, mapping word to definition, while specialized dictionaries are supposed to be onomasiological, first identifying concepts and then establishing the terms used to designate them. In practice, the two approaches are used for both types. There are other types of dictionaries that do not fit neatly into the above distinction, for instance bilingual (translation) dictionaries, dictionaries of synonyms (thesauri), and rhyming dictionaries. The word dictionary (unqualified) is usually understood to refer to a general purpose monolingual dictionary.

There is also a contrast between prescriptive or descriptive dictionaries; the former reflect what is seen as correct use of the language while the latter reflect recorded actual use. Stylistic indications (e.g. "informal" or "vulgar") in many modern dictionaries are also considered by some to be less than objectively descriptive.

The first recorded dictionaries date back to Sumerian times around 2300 BCE, in the form of bilingual dictionaries, and the oldest surviving monolingual dictionaries are Chinese dictionaries c. 3rd century BCE. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was A Table Alphabeticall, written in 1604, and monolingual dictionaries in other languages also began appearing in Europe at around this time. The systematic study of dictionaries as objects of scientific interest arose as a 20th-century enterprise, called lexicography, and largely initiated by Ladislav Zgusta. The birth of the new discipline was not without controversy, with the practical dictionary-makers being sometimes accused by others of having an "astonishing" lack of method and critical-self reflection.