-
aback
0
adv 1: having the wind against the forward side of the sails;
"the ship came up into the wind with all yards aback"
2: by surprise; "taken aback by the caustic remarks"
-
back
0
adv 1: in or to or toward a former location; "she went back to
her parents' house"
2: 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" [syn: back, backward, backwards,
rearward, rearwards] [ant: forrad, forrard,
forward, forwards, frontward, frontwards]
3: in or to or toward an original condition; "he went back to
sleep"
4: in or to or toward a past time; "set the clocks back an
hour"; "never look back"; "lovers of the past looking fondly
backward" [syn: back, backward] [ant: ahead, forward]
5: in reply; "he wrote back three days later"
6: 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"
adj 1: related to or located at the back; "the back yard"; "the
back entrance" [ant: front(a)]
2: located at or near the back of an animal; "back (or hind)
legs"; "the hinder part of a carcass" [syn: back(a),
hind(a), hinder(a)]
3: of an earlier date; "back issues of the magazine"
n 1: the posterior part of a human (or animal) body from the
neck to the end of the spine; "his back was nicely tanned"
[syn: back, dorsum]
2: the side that goes last or is not normally seen; "he wrote
the date on the back of the photograph" [syn: rear, back]
[ant: front]
3: 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" [syn: back, rear] [ant:
front]
4: (football) a person who plays in the backfield
5: the series of vertebrae forming the axis of the skeleton and
protecting the spinal cord; "the fall broke his back" [syn:
spinal column, vertebral column, spine, backbone,
back, rachis]
6: the protective covering on the front, back, and spine of a
book; "the book had a leather binding" [syn: binding, book
binding, cover, back]
7: the part of a garment that covers the back of your body;
"they pinned a `kick me' sign on his back"
8: a support that you can lean against while sitting; "the back
of the dental chair was adjustable" [syn: back, backrest]
9: (American football) the position of a player on a football
team who is stationed behind the line of scrimmage
v 1: be behind; approve of; "He plumped for the Labor Party"; "I
backed Kennedy in 1960" [syn: back, endorse, indorse,
plump for, plunk for, support]
2: travel backward; "back into the driveway"; "The car backed up
and hit the tree"
3: give support or one's approval to; "I'll second that motion";
"I can't back this plan"; "endorse a new project" [syn:
second, back, endorse, indorse]
4: cause to travel backward; "back the car into the parking
spot" [ant: advance, bring forward]
5: support financial backing for; "back this enterprise"
6: be in back of; "My garage backs their yard" [ant: face,
front, look]
7: place a bet on; "Which horse are you backing?"; "I'm betting
on the new horse" [syn: bet on, back, gage, stake,
game, punt]
8: shift to a counterclockwise direction; "the wind backed"
[ant: veer]
9: establish as valid or genuine; "Can you back up your claims?"
[syn: back, back up]
10: strengthen by providing with a back or backing
-
bareback
0
adv 1: without a saddle; "she prefers to ride her horse
bareback" [syn: bareback, barebacked]
adj 1: riding without a saddle; "a bareback rider" [syn:
bareback, barebacked]
-
biofeedback
0
n 1: a training program in which a person is given information
about physiological processes (heart rate or blood
pressure) that is not normally available with the goal of
gaining conscious control of them
-
black
0
adj 1: being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having
little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all
incident light; "black leather jackets"; "as black as
coal"; "rich black soil" [ant: white]
2: of or belonging to a racial group having dark skin especially
of sub-Saharan African origin; "a great people--a black
people--...injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of
civilization"- Martin Luther King Jr. [ant: white]
3: marked by anger or resentment or hostility; "black looks";
"black words"
4: offering little or no hope; "the future looked black";
"prospects were bleak"; "Life in the Aran Islands has always
been bleak and difficult"- J.M.Synge; "took a dim view of
things" [syn: black, bleak, dim]
5: stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or
dishonorable; "black deeds"; "a black lie"; "his black heart
has concocted yet another black deed"; "Darth Vader of the
dark side"; "a dark purpose"; "dark undercurrents of ethnic
hostility"; "the scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on
punishing him"-Thomas Hardy [syn: black, dark,
sinister]
6: (of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire
consequences; bringing ruin; "the stock market crashed on
Black Friday"; "a calamitous defeat"; "the battle was a
disastrous end to a disastrous campaign"; "such doctrines, if
true, would be absolutely fatal to my theory"- Charles
Darwin; "it is fatal to enter any war without the will to win
it"- Douglas MacArthur; "a fateful error" [syn: black,
calamitous, disastrous, fatal, fateful]
7: (of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood;
"a face black with fury" [syn: black, blackened]
8: extremely dark; "a black moonless night"; "through the pitch-
black woods"; "it was pitch-dark in the cellar" [syn:
black, pitch-black, pitch-dark]
9: harshly ironic or sinister; "black humor"; "a grim joke";
"grim laughter"; "fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to
savage mordant wit" [syn: black, grim, mordant]
10: (of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading; "black
propaganda"
11: distributed or sold illicitly; "the black economy pays no
taxes" [syn: bootleg, black, black-market,
contraband, smuggled]
12: (used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing
disgrace or shame; "Man...has written one of his blackest
records as a destroyer on the oceanic islands"- Rachel
Carson; "an ignominious retreat"; "inglorious defeat"; "an
opprobrious monument to human greed"; "a shameful display of
cowardice" [syn: black, disgraceful, ignominious,
inglorious, opprobrious, shameful]
13: (of coffee) without cream or sugar
14: soiled with dirt or soot; "with feet black from playing
outdoors"; "his shirt was black within an hour" [syn:
black, smutty]
n 1: the quality or state of the achromatic color of least
lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white) [syn:
black, blackness, inkiness] [ant: white,
whiteness]
2: total absence of light; "they fumbled around in total
darkness"; "in the black of night" [syn: total darkness,
lightlessness, blackness, pitch blackness, black]
3: British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who
formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat
(1728-1799) [syn: Black, Joseph Black]
4: popular child actress of the 1930's (born in 1928) [syn:
Black, Shirley Temple Black, Shirley Temple]
5: a person with dark skin who comes from Africa (or whose
ancestors came from Africa) [syn: Black, Black person,
blackamoor, Negro, Negroid]
6: (board games) the darker pieces [ant: white]
7: black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning); "the widow wore
black"
v 1: make or become black; "The smoke blackened the ceiling";
"The ceiling blackened" [syn: blacken, melanize,
melanise, nigrify, black] [ant: white, whiten]
-
blowback
0
n 1: the backward escape of gases and unburned gunpowder after a
gun is fired [syn: blowback, backfire]
2: misinformation resulting from the recirculation into the
source country of disinformation previously planted abroad by
that country's intelligence service
-
comeback
0
n 1: a quick reply to a question or remark (especially a witty
or critical one); "it brought a sharp rejoinder from the
teacher" [syn: rejoinder, retort, return, riposte,
replication, comeback, counter]
2: return by a celebrity to some previously successful activity
-
crookback
0
adj 1: characteristic of or suffering from kyphosis, an
abnormality of the vertebral column [syn: crookback,
crookbacked, humped, humpbacked, hunchbacked,
gibbous, kyphotic]
n 1: a person whose back is hunched because of abnormal
curvature of the upper spine [syn: humpback, hunchback,
crookback]
-
cutback
0
n 1: a reduction in quantity or rate
-
diamondback
0
n 1: large deadly rattlesnake with diamond-shaped markings [syn:
diamondback, diamondback rattlesnake, Crotalus
adamanteus]
-
dieback
0
n 1: a disease of plants characterized by the gradual dying of
the young shoots starting at the tips and progressing to
the larger branches
-
drawback
0
n 1: the quality of being a hindrance; "he pointed out all the
drawbacks to my plan"
-
fallback
0
n 1: to break off a military action with an enemy [syn:
disengagement, fallback, pullout]
-
fatback
0
n 1: salt pork from the back of a hog carcass
-
feedback
0
n 1: the process in which part of the output of a system is
returned to its input in order to regulate its further
output
2: response to an inquiry or experiment
-
flashback
0
n 1: a transition (in literary or theatrical works or films) to
an earlier event or scene that interrupts the normal
chronological development of the story [ant: flash-
forward]
2: an unexpected but vivid recurrence of a past experience
(especially a recurrence of the effects of an hallucinogenic
drug taken much earlier)
-
fullback
0
n 1: (football) the running back who plays the fullback position
on the offensive team
2: (American football) the position of a back on a football team
v 1: play the fullback
-
greenback
0
n 1: a piece of paper money (especially one issued by a central
bank); "he peeled off five one-thousand-zloty notes" [syn:
bill, note, government note, bank bill, banker's
bill, bank note, banknote, Federal Reserve note,
greenback]
-
halfback
0
n 1: (football) the running back who plays the offensive
halfback position
2: (American football) the position of a back on a football team
-
hardback
0
adj 1: having a hard back or cover; "hardback books" [syn:
hardbacked, hardback, hardbound, hardcover]
n 1: a book with cardboard or cloth or leather covers [syn:
hardback, hardcover]
-
hatchback
0
n 1: a car having a hatchback door
2: a sloping rear car door that is lifted to open [syn:
hatchback, hatchback door]
-
hogback
0
n 1: a narrow ridge of hills [syn: hogback, horseback]
-
horseback
0
adv 1: on the back of a horse; "he rode horseback to town";
"managed to escape ahorse"; "policeman patrolled the
streets ahorseback" [syn: horseback, ahorse,
ahorseback]
n 1: the back of a horse
2: a narrow ridge of hills [syn: hogback, horseback]
-
huckaback
0
n 1: toweling consisting of coarse absorbent cotton or linen
fabric [syn: huck, huckaback]
-
hunchback
0
n 1: an abnormal backward curve to the vertebral column [syn:
kyphosis, humpback, hunchback]
2: a person whose back is hunched because of abnormal curvature
of the upper spine [syn: humpback, hunchback,
crookback]
-
kickback
0
n 1: a commercial bribe paid by a seller to a purchasing agent
in order to induce the agent to enter into the transaction
-
leatherback
0
n 1: wide-ranging marine turtle with flexible leathery carapace;
largest living turtle [syn: leatherback turtle,
leatherback, leathery turtle, Dermochelys coriacea]
-
mossback
0
n 1: an extremely old-fashioned conservative
-
outback
0
adj 1: inaccessible and sparsely populated; [syn: outback(a),
remote]
n 1: the bush country of the interior of Australia
-
paperback
0
adj 1: (of books) having a flexible binding [syn: paperback,
paperbacked]
n 1: a book with paper covers [syn: paperback book, paper-
back book, paperback, softback book, softback,
soft-cover book, soft-cover]
-
piggyback
0
adv 1: on a railroad flatcar; "the trailer rode piggyback across
the country" [syn: piggyback, pickaback,
pig-a-back]
2: on the back or shoulder or astraddle on the hip; "she carried
her child piggyback" [syn: piggyback, pickaback,
pig-a-back]
n 1: the act of carrying something piggyback
v 1: ride on someone's shoulders or back
2: haul truck trailers loaded with commodities on railroad cars
3: haul by railroad car
4: support on the back and shoulders; "He piggybacked her child
so she could see the show"
5: bring into alignment with; "an amendment to piggyback the
current law"
-
playback
0
n 1: the act of reproducing recorded sound; "he was allowed to
hear the playback of his testimony"
2: electronic equipment comprising the part of a tape recorder
that reproduces the recorded material
-
pullback
0
n 1: a device (as a decorative loop of cord or fabric) for
holding or drawing something back; "the draperies were
drawn to the sides by pullbacks" [syn: pullback,
tieback]
2: (military) the act of pulling back (especially an orderly
withdrawal of troops); "the pullback is expected to be over
25,000 troops"
-
quarterback
0
n 1: (football) the person who plays quarterback [syn:
quarterback, signal caller, field general]
2: (American football) the position of the football player in
the backfield who directs the offensive play of his team;
"quarterback is the most important position on the team"
[syn: quarterback, signal caller, field general]
v 1: play the quarterback
-
razorback
0
adj 1: having a sharp narrow back; "a razor-backed horse";
"razorback hogs" [syn: razorback, razor-backed]
n 1: a mongrel hog with a thin body and long legs and a ridged
back; a wild or semi-wild descendant of improved breeds;
found chiefly in the southeastern United States [syn:
razorback, razorback hog, razorbacked hog]
2: any of several baleen whales of the family Balaenopteridae
having longitudinal grooves on the throat and a small pointed
dorsal fin [syn: rorqual, razorback]
-
rollback
0
n 1: the act of forcing the enemy to withdraw [syn: rollback,
push back]
2: reducing prices back to some earlier level
-
setback
0
n 1: an unfortunate happening that hinders or impedes; something
that is thwarting or frustrating [syn: reverse,
reversal, setback, blow, black eye]
-
stickleback
0
n 1: small (2-4 inches) pugnacious mostly scaleless spiny-backed
fishes of northern fresh and littoral waters having
elaborate courtship; subjects of much research [syn:
stickleback, prickleback]
-
tailback
0
n 1: (American football) the person who plays tailback
2: (American football) the position of the offensive back on a
football team who lines up farthest from the line of
scrimmage
-
throwback
0
adj 1: characteristic of an atavist [syn: atavistic,
throwback(a)]
n 1: an organism that has the characteristics of a more
primitive type of that organism [syn: atavist,
throwback]
2: a reappearance of an earlier characteristic [syn: atavism,
reversion, throwback]
-
tieback
0
n 1: a device (as a decorative loop of cord or fabric) for
holding or drawing something back; "the draperies were
drawn to the sides by pullbacks" [syn: pullback,
tieback]
-
touchback
0
n 1: (American football) a play in which the opposing team has
kicked the football into your end zone
-
wetback
0
n 1: (ethnic slur) offensive term for a person of Mexican
descent [syn: greaser, wetback, taco]
-
wingback
0
n 1: (football) the person who plays wingback
2: (American football) the position of the offensive back who
lines up behind or outside the end
-
callback
0
n 1: a request by the manufacturer of a defective product to
return the product (as for replacement or repair) [syn:
recall, callback]
-
payback
0
n 1: financial return or reward (especially returns equal to the
initial investment)
2: the act of taking revenge (harming someone in retaliation for
something harmful that they have done) especially in the next
life; "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord"--
Romans 12:19; "For vengeance I would do nothing. This nation
is too great to look for mere revenge"--James Garfield; "he
swore vengeance on the man who betrayed him"; "the swiftness
of divine retribution" [syn: vengeance, retribution,
payback]
-
zwieback
0
n 1: slice of sweet raised bread baked again until it is brown
and hard and crisp [syn: zwieback, rusk, Brussels
biscuit, twice-baked bread]
-
saddleback
0
n 1: a pass or ridge that slopes gently between two peaks (is
shaped like a saddle) [syn: saddleback, saddle]
2: a double sloping roof with a ridge and gables at each end
[syn: gable roof, saddle roof, saddleback, saddleback
roof]
-
cornerback
0
n 1: a defensive football player stationed outside the
linebackers
-
pickaback
0
adv 1: on a railroad flatcar; "the trailer rode piggyback across
the country" [syn: piggyback, pickaback,
pig-a-back]
2: on the back or shoulder or astraddle on the hip; "she carried
her child piggyback" [syn: piggyback, pickaback,
pig-a-back]
-
tombac
0
n 1: an alloy of copper and zinc (and sometimes arsenic) used to
imitate gold in cheap jewelry and for gilding [syn:
tombac, tombak, tambac]
-
fastback
0
-
fireback
0
-
holdback
0
-
leaseback
0
-
runback
0
-
shellback
0
-
skewback
0
-
splashback
0
-
switchback
0
-
whaleback
0
-
ack
0
-
akc
0
-
backe
0
-
bak
0
-
bakke
0
-
boback
0
-
flyback
0
-
hoback
0
-
talkback
0
-
yellowback
0
-
sowback
0
-
orbach
0
-
wayback
0