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Antonyms for back of
Grammar : Adj, adv |
Spell : bak |
Phonetic Transcription : bæk |
Definition of back of
Origin :- Old English bæc "back," from Proto-Germanic *bakam (cf. Old Saxon and Middle Dutch bak, Old Frisian bek), with no known connections outside Germanic.
- The cognates mostly have been ousted in this sense in other modern Germanic languages by words akin to Modern English ridge (cf. Danish ryg, German Rücken). Many Indo-European languages show signs of once having distinguished the horizontal back of an animal (or a mountain range) from the upright back of a human. In other cases, a modern word for "back" may come from a word related to "spine" (Italian schiena, Russian spina) or "shoulder, shoulder blade" (Spanish espalda, Polish plecy).
- To turn (one's) back on (someone or something) "ignore" is from early 14c. Behind (someone's) back "clandestinely" is from late 14c.
- To know (something) like the back of one's hand, implying familiarity, is first attested 1893. The first attested use of the phrase is from a dismissive speech made to a character in Robert Louis Stevenson's "Catriona":
- If I durst speak to herself, you may be certain I would never dream of trusting it to you; because I know you like the back of my hand, and all your blustering talk is that much wind to me.
- The story, a sequel to "Kidnapped," has a Scottish setting and context, and the back of my hand to you was noted in the late 19th century as a Scottish expression meaning "I will have nothing to do with you" [e.g. "Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language"]. In English generally, the back of (one's) hand has been used to imply contempt and rejection since at least 1300. Perhaps the connection of a menacing dismissal is what made Stevenson choose that particular anatomical reference.
- As in back : adj end
- As in hind : adj back
- As in after : adj following in position or time
- As in behind : adv position farther back; following
Synonyms for back of
- aback
- abaft
- aft
- after
- afterwards
- astern
- at the heels of
- at the rear of
- back
- back of
- backward
- behind
- below
- bringing up the rear
- eating the dust
- ensuing
- final
- following
- hind
- hindmost
- in the background
- in the rear
- in the wake
- in the wake of
- later
- later than
- next
- off the pace
- posterior
- postern
- postliminary
- rear
- rearmost
- rearward
- subsequential
- subsequently
- succeeding
- tail
- thereafter
- trailing
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019