in comb. is used in many relations, substantive, adjective, and adverbial (rarely verbal), often difficult to separate, and in various senses. In some of these the combination is very loose, the use of the hyphen being almost optional.
This is especially the case, when back is capable of being viewed as an adj., in which aspect the hyphen would not be used, e.g., back-yard or back yard, back-stroke or back stroke. As a rule, the use of the hyphen implies that the combination (in the case in point) has not the general and purely descriptive value of the two words, but is in some respect specialized or appropriated as a specific name.
A. General senses in combination.
I. from BACK sb.
1. objective. a. with pr. pple., forming adjectives, as back-slapping, -wounding. b. with vbl. sb., forming substantives, as back-breaking, -scratching. c. with agent-noun, as back-scraper, -scratcher.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., III. ii. 197. Back-wounding calumnie.
1777. Twining, in Country Clergym. 18th C. (1882), 50. A brisk, noisy, back-slapping new man.
1787. Bentham, Wks., X. 168. Back-breaking which is the death of so many vessels.
1794. J. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Rowl. for Oliver, Wks. II. 135. Chopsticks and backscrapers.
1834. Southey, Doctor (1835), I. iv. 63 (D.). There was … a back scratcher, of which the hand was ivory and the handle black.
1884. Good Wds., June, 400/2. Having borne himself so lubberly over his ‘back-scratching.’
2. instrumental and locative, with pples. and adjs., forming adjs., as back-broken, back-aching.
1603. J. Davies, Microcosm. (1876), 16 (D.). An empires lode (Which weaknesse oft back-broken vndergoes).
1837. Athenæum, No. 827. 874. The back-broken traveller … stretches from his camel.
1883. Swinburne, Casquettes, xvi. The strengths reluctant of waves back-bowed.
3. attrib. Of or pertaining to the back, used for or carried on the back, e.g., back-ache, -cloth, -clout, -fin; back-basket, -burden, -dunt, -load.
a. 1230. Ancr. R., 290. Gif him stronge bac duntes.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 362. Oure bakcloþis [v.r. bakkes] þat moth-eten be.
1530. Palsgr., 196/1. Backeburden, portee, charge.
1601. Dent, Pathw. Heauen, 79. Tooth-ache, head-ache, backe-ache, bone-ache.
1706. Phillips, Bray, Back-clouts for young children.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 158. She came … with a great back-burden of roots.
1725. Bailey, Erasm. Colloq. (1877), 182 (D.). Return home with a backload of sanctimony.
1775. Adair, Amer. Ind., 90. Large portable back-baskets.
1863. Kingsley, Water-Bab., iv. 144. With their back-fins out of the water.
II. from BACK a.
4. gen. Lying at the back, in the rear, or behind; hinder; = BACK a. 1, and more commonly written as two words.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 86. Thou shalt sée my Backepartes: but my face shal not be séene.
1650. T. Goodwin, Wks. (1862), IV. 267. The back-parts of God, which we call his attributes.
1752. trans. Gersaint’s Rembrandt’s Etch., 29. The Back-view is the inner part of the Temple.
1753. Hanway, Trav. (1762), I. III. xxxvii. 167. The back-part of this tent.
1772. Maskelyne, in Phil. Trans., LXII. 106. In the back-observation … the real upper-limb will appear the lowest.
1774. White, ibid., LXV. 273. The back-wall of William of Wickham’s stables.
5. esp. Applied to a part of a house or building that lies behind, and is usually subsidiary to the front or main part bearing the name, as back-building, a building behind forming an appendage to a main building, back-chamber, -court, -drawing-room, -garden, -house, -kitchen, -parlo(u)r, -yard, etc.
1535. Coverdale, Ezek. xlii. 1. The chambre that stode ouer agaynst the backbuyldinge.
a. 1603. T. Cartwright, Confut. Rhem. N. T. (1618), 724. The intercession by Angels lyeth (as they say) in the backhouse ditch.
1633. Ford, Love’s Sacr., I. ii. (1839), 77. I’ll meet thee … in thy lady’s back-lobby.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I. lv. In every back-chamber or with-drawing room.
1679. Bedloe, Popish Plot, Ep. a. Creeping into back-yards, and firing stacks of Bavins.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 45, ¶ 1. I was let in at the Back-gate of a lovely House.
1710. Lond. Gaz., No. 4637/4. A well built Brick House, with a Back-house and other Buildings behind.
1759. Sterne, Tr. Shandy (1802), I. 78. To drink a bottle of wine with my father … in the back-parlour.
1784. Wesley, Wks. (1872), XIII. 503. She heard a knocking at the back-kitchen door.
1854. Mrs. Gaskell, North & S., i. Curled up on the sofa in the back-drawing-room.
1866. R. M. Ballantyne, Lifeboat, 5. Mr. Crumps sat in a small back-office.
1878. Black, Green Past., iii. 20. The back-parlour of a Ballinascroon public-house.
1882. Pebody, Eng. Journalism, xxiii. 186. The crowing of a cock in the back-yard of a suburban villa.
III. from BACK adv.
6. With vbs., forming compound verbs, as back-try, to try back or over again. rare.
1640–1. Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855), 83. The way … shall be tryed and baktryed.
7. With pres. pple., forming adjs., as back-blowing, -coming, -driving, -glancing, -going, -looking, -lying.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 97 b. A repercussiue or back-dryuyng medicine.
1615. W. Hull, Mirr. Maj., 48. The soule is encombred with foure back-pulling retentives.
1817. Mar. Edgeworth, Harrington, vi. Wks. IX. 45. With back-stepping curtsy.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Poems, II. 347. Back-looking Memory.
1863. H. Kingsley, A. Elliot, I. x. 110. A long, low, back lying house.
8. With pa. pples., forming adjs. (chiefly poetic), as back-drawn, -flung, -thrown, -turned, etc.
1580. Sidney, Arcadia (1622), 92. With shafts shot out from their back-turned bow.
1652. Urquhart, Jewel, Wks. (1834), 226. Tossed to and again, retorted, backreverted.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Poems, II. 74. Back-thrown on the slippery coping-stone.
1863. Barnes, Rhymes Dorset Dial., II. 28. A-lookin up with back-flung head.
9. With agent-nouns, forming sbs., as BACK-SLIDER; back-sitter, one who sits back.
1883. in Paxton Hood, Scot. Charact., ii. 33. He’ll be but a bauckle (and old shoe) in this world and a backsitter in the neist.
10. With vbl. sbs. forming sbs., as BACK-SLIDING, back-coming, -drawing, -going, -looking, -slipping, -starting, -surging, -turning, etc.
1535. Coverdale, Jer. iii. 22. So shal I heale youre bacturnynges. Ibid. (1540), Fruitf. Less., iii. Wks. 1844, I. 366. Such curious backlooking doth the Lord rebuke.
1590. Swinburn, Testaments, 197. Of apostasie … that is to say, of back-starting from the Christian faith.
1600. Abp. Abbot, Exp. Jonah, 523. That sigh which breatheth out sorrow, by a backe-breathing bringeth in joy.
a. 1605. Sir J. Melvil, Mem. (1683), 79. In her back-coming … the Earl of Bothwell rancountered her.
1663. Blair, Autobiog., vi. (1848), 86. Approving my jealousy, but reproving my backdrawing.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xxxiv. A … hostage for my safe backcoming.
1858. R. Chambers, Dom. Ann. Scotl., I. 4. In all her back-surgings upon the ground she lost.
11. With nouns of action, forming sbs., as back-caper, -come, -flow, -look, -march, -return, -step, -stretch, -sweep, -throw.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 314. At his back-returne into his country.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., V. Cho. 41. Till Harryes backe returne againe to France.
1606. Ret. fr. Parnass., II. vi. The dog, seeing him practise his … back-caper.
1645. Rutherford, Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845), 122. When the conscience hath gotten a back-throw with the hand of the Almighty.
a. 1718. Penn, Wks. (1726), I. 454. We wish it be not the Beginning of a Back-march.
1852. Grote, Greece, II. lxxv. IX. 479. The back-march of Agesilaus.
1869. Eng. Mech., 31 Dec., 382/2. The weight is by the back-throw from C to A restrained from lowering itself.
1884. Health Exhib. Catal., 72/2. For the prevention of any back-flow of water or sewage.
12. With other sbs. a. expressing backward direction, as back-bias, back-draught: see B.
a. 1617. Bayne, On Eph. (1658), 130. Youthful lusts … like a back-bias, did draw after themselves the understanding.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, 550. He doth but put a back-bias upon thee; that he might weigh thy motion to himselfe.
b. expressing ‘in the contrary direction,’ return-, as back-cargo, cargo brought on the return voyage, back-carriage, -current, -fare, -freight, -tonnage.
1657. Colvil, Whigs Supplic. (1751), 30. He treads the back-scent, brings a glove.
1721. C. King, Brit. Merch., I. 361. Sending any empty Ships … for the sake of Back-carriage. Corn has been often carry’d … for nothing, in consideration of Back-Tunnage.
1805. W. Taylor, in Ann. Rev., III. 320. Our ships incur a loss of back-freight.
1833. Tennyson, Poems, 36. The fish that everywhere In the backcurrent glanced and played.
1860. in Merc. Mar. Mag., VII. 57. It is not difficult to procure back cargo.
c. expressing reciprocation or reply, as back-answer, -echo, back-word.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 247. You have many Back-Eccho’s to the Place where you stand.
1884. Hull & E. C. Herald, 28 Feb., 6/6. The boy was a civil boy, and never gave a back answer.
d. expressing ‘turned or performed backwards,’ as back-pater-noster, BACK-SLANG.
IV. Parasynthetic derivatives, as back-geared, having back-gear: BACK-HANDED.
1881. Mechanic, § 596. Lathe with back-geared head.
B. Special combinations (with quotations in alphabetical order):
Back-bar, a bar in the chimney to hang a vessel on (Ash); back-box, in Printing, a box on top of the upper case, usually appropriated to small capitals (Craig); back-breaker, the leader of a gang of farm-laborers; † back-carry sb. = BACK-BEAR; back-casing, in Mining, a temporary shaft-lining of bricks, in front of which the permanent lining is built; back-cauter (see quot.); back-chain, a chain that passes over a cart-saddle to support the shafts of a cart; † back-chair, a chair with a back; back-clamp v. in Wrestling (see quot.); back-click, a trick in wrestling; back-draught, a draught of air backward, a hood for producing this in a fire; back-filling, the filling in again of earth which has been removed, the earth so filled in; back-flap, -fold (= back-shutter); back-front, the ground in an etching or engraving; back-harrow (see HARROW); back-heart, the dorsal heart or large blood-vessel of insects and other arthropoda; back-heel sb., a trick in wrestling; back-heel v., to throw by a back-heel; † back-hood, hiding behind cover; back-jamb, a wing of a house projecting behind; back-light, a light coming from behind or falling upon the hinder part (Worcester, 1859); back-lining, in Arch., the piece of a sash-frame parallel to the pulley piece and next to the jamb on either side (Gwilt, 1842); back-links, the links in a parallel motion that connect the air-pump rod to the beam (Weale, Dict. Terms, 1849); back-lock, a trick in wrestling; back-nails, ‘nails made with flat shanks, so as to hold fast, and not to open the grain of the wood’ (James, Mil. Dict., 1816); back-overman, in Coal Mining, an overman who has the immediate inspection of the workings and workmen during the back-shift; back-painting (see quot.); back-pater-noster, the Lord’s prayer repeated backward as a charm, fig. a muttered curse or imprecation; back-pressure, in the steam-engine, the resistance of the atmosphere or waste steam to the piston; † back-reckoning, a reckoning for past transactions or misdeeds; back-rest, a guide attached to the slide-rest of a turning-lathe, and placed in contact with the work to steady it; back-rope (of a horse) = BACK-BAND; Naut., a rope leading inboard from the martingale; see also quot. 1860; back-scene, the background of a stage scene; back-shaft, part of a cotton-spinning machine; back-shift, in Coal Mining, the second shift or set of hewers for the day; back-shutter, the part of a shutter that folds up behind; back-skin, in Mining, a leather covering worn by miners in wet workings; back-spang (Sc.), a trick or legal quirk, by which one takes advantage of another, after a bargain has been adjusted (Jam.); back-speed, in Mech., the second speed-gear of a lathe; † back-stand, backing, support; back-step, a step back; the retrograde movement without changing front (James, Mil. Dict., 1816); back-stop, in Cricket = LONG-STOP; back-striking, in Agriculture, a mode of plowing in which the earth once turned is simply thrown back again; back-string, a string at the back, e.g., at the back of a child’s pinafore; back-sweep (see quot.); back-swimmer, one who swims on his back; the hemipterous insect Notonecta, which swims on the surface of pools; back-tack (Sc. Law), a kind of deed by which the mortgagee of land gives a lease of it to the mortgagor on condition of payment of rent till redeemed (Buchanan); † back-timber (humorously for) clothing; † back-trade, backward course; † back-trick, ? a caper backwards in dancing; back-winter, a return of winter after its regular time; back-worm, a disease incident to hawks; back-word (in Lanc.), withdrawal from a promise or from an accepted invitation, also dial. a contradiction, rude answer; back-wort (Herb.), old name for the Comfrey (Symphytum officinale).
1867. People’s Mag., May, 314/2. He selects one of his gang as *back-breaker.
1611. Cotgr., Cautere dorsal, the *back cauter: or, that kinde of knife-like cauter, which cuts but on th’ one side.
1649. Bury Wills (1850), 221. Vnto my daughter Martha two wrought *backchaires.
1713. Parkyns, Inn-Play (1727), 43. When your Adversary *Back-clamps you, which is when he claps his Heel in your Ham.
1867. Standard, 20 April, 7/4. Graham threw his antagonist first by a *‘back click.’
1869. Eng. Mech., 24 Dec., 344/1. A hood or *‘back draught’ is applied over the fire.
1851. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XII. I. 158. The windows … finished with bound shutters and *back-folds.
1752. trans. Gersaint’s Rembrandt’s Etch., 59. The *Back-front or Ground is generally foul.
1883. Longm. Mag., May, 49. A jointed animal … with a *back-heart, a nervous system below, and a digestive tube.
1881. Sportsman’s Year Bk., 314. Cowan scored with a very neat *back heel.
1883. Standard, 24 March, 3/7. J. Hodgson *back-heeled J. Wilson.
c. 1450. Henryson, Mor. Fab., 34. Hee played *back-hood behind from beast to beast.
1852. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, xviii. (1859), 506. A very handsome dining room situated in what I believe is called a *back-jamb, a sort of outrigger to the house.
1713. Parkyns, Inn-Play (1727), 53. Stand with that Toe out and Leg bent, over which he intends to take the Buttock, or *Back-lock.
1876. Daily News, 28 Sept., 4/4. The death of a *back overman, two miners, and a driver.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., *Back-painting, the art of pasting of prints and other designs on glass.
1815. Encycl. Brit., III. 309. *Back-painting, the method of painting mezzotinto prints, pasted on glass, with oil colours.
a. 1575. Abp. Parker, Corr., 158. Prayers, for the Queen’s Majesty’s prosperity and continuance; where others say their *back paternosters for her in corners.
1465. Paston Lett., 522. II. 224. Thou comyst in with many *bak rekenyngges.
1633. Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, 142. Thou callest me to a *backe-reckoning for the very sins of my youth.
1711. in Lond. Gaz., No. 4868/4. A white Spot on the middle of his Back made by the chafing of a *back Rope.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast., xxxv. 132. Tackle [was] got upon the martingale *backrope.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 57. The cat is hooked, by means of the *back-rope, to the ring of the anchor.
1817. Byron, Beppo, xli. Much like the *back scene of a play.
1879. J. Robertson, in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 396/1. Between the roller-beam and the creels the *back-shaft extends to each end of the mule.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 218. *Back-shutters or *Back-flaps, Additional breadths hinged to the front shutters.
1548. Hall, Chron. (1809), 425. Lytle avayleth outward Warre, except there be a stedfast *Backstande at home.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 203. If one *backstep be as much as foresteps three.
1844. Baker, in Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., V. I. 32. The land … is ploughed as the work proceeds by what is termed *back-striking.
1785. Cowper, Task, IV. 227. Misses, at whose age their mothers wore The *backstring, and the bib.
c. 1850. Rudim. Nav. (Weale), 120. The top-timber sweep, or *back sweep, is that which forms the hollow of the top-timber.
1862. Athenæum, No. 1830. 660. The *backswimmer … has … the faculty of entangling air in the hairs of its body.
a. 1656. Bp. Hall, Rem. Wks. (1660), 159. Excesse in diet and clothes, in belly-cheer, and *back-timber.
1640. Lawefulnesse Exp. into Eng., 4. He hath followed the *back trade of our defection … The Lord therefore is still on the *back trade.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., I. iii. 131. I haue the *backe-tricke, simply as strong as any man in Illyria.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, 13. This and euery towne hath his *backewinters or frostes that nippe it in the blade.
1649. Selden, Laws of Eng., II. xl. (1739), 174. Yet like a dead Calm in a hot Spring, treasured up in store sad distempers against a *back-Winter.
a. 1682. Sir T. Browne, Tracts, 115. That obstinate disease of the Filander or *Back-worm.
1598. Florio, Consolida maggiore, the herbe Comfrie, Knit-backe or *backwoort.
