subs. phr. (wrestlers’).—1. A trip or fall on the back, as also BACKHEEL and BACKLOCK. Also as verb.
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.
1838–9. Hood’s Own, 3. No wrestler … ever received half so many BACK-FALLS as I.
1852. DICKENS, Bleak House, xxv. He will throw him an argumentative BACK-FALL presently.
1881. Sportsman’s Year Book, 314. Cowan scored with a very neat BACK-HEEL.
1883. Standard, 24 March, 3. 7. J. Hodgson BACK-HEELED J. Wilson.
