A large log placed at the back of the chimney.
1684. The spit was carried up chimney, and came down with the point forward, and stuck in the back-log.—Increase Mather, ‘Remarkable Providences,’ chap. v. (N.E.D.)
1788. The snake was so strong, that he made his escape, and took shelter behind the back-log, until the heat drove him from thence.—American Museum, iv. 519/1 (Sept.).
1793. He found his companion lying in a large body of live coals, her head on the back log and knees on the forestick.—Mass. Spy, March 7.
1817. You should make up your fire [in the woods] with a fallen tree for a back-log.—M. Birkbeck, ‘Journey in America,’ p. 166 (Phila.).
1824. Does he throw her into the fire, or does he throw her behind the back log? No.—Howard Gazette (Boston), March 27: from The Port Folio.
1846. We next proceeded to build a fire, which was facilitated by taking advantage of a dead tree for a back-log.—T. B. Thorpe, ‘Bob Herring,’ p. 135.
1847. In the morning, a buckeye backlog and hickory forestick resting on stone andirons, with a Johnny-cake on a clean ash board, set before it to bake.—Dr. D. Drake, ‘Pioneer Life in Kentucky,’ p. 106 (Cincinnati, 1870).
1852. The ‘log’ has been placed; the ‘back-log’ has surmounted it; the ‘top-stick’ crowns the apex; the ‘fore-stick’ rests against the ‘’and-irons;’ and the intermediate ‘cob-house’ of timber, fired by the faithful ‘kindling-wood,’ is all a-blaze, and roaring up the chimney.—Knick. Mag., xxxix. 203 (Feb.).
1859. It was a cold morning: but the ‘log’ was in the fireplace; crowned with the ‘back-log,’ ‘middle-log,’ and ‘top-stick.’ [For the rest of the quotation see FORE-STICK.]—Knick. Mag., liii. 324 (March).
1878. Backlog and forestick were soon piled and kindlings laid, and the fire roared and snapped and crackled up the ample chimney.—H. B. Stowe, ‘Poganuc People,’ ch. ix.
