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Synonyms for back-water
| Grammar : Verb |
| Spell : bak |
| Phonetic Transcription : bæk |
Top 10 synonyms for back-water Other synonyms for the word back-water
- anchor it
- back-water
- bog down
- brake
- check
- choke
- cut back
- cut down
- detain
- ease off
- ease up
- embog
- handicap
- hit the brakes
- hold back
- hold up
- keep waiting
- let down flaps
- loiter
- lose speed
- lose steam
- mire
- moderate
- postpone
- procrastinate
- qualify
- quiet
- reduce
- reduce speed
- reef
- regulate
- rein in
- relax
- retard
- retardate
- set back
- slacken
- stall
- stunt
- temper
- wind down
Définition of back-water
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 slow : verb delay, restrict
- The cleansing and clearing a harbour by back-water, or otherwise.
- Extract from : « The Sailor's Word-Book » by William Henry Smyth
- They had reached the counter current—the back-water—and were satisfied.
- Extract from : « The Trail of the Goldseekers » by Hamlin Garland
- The last rip of the tide is through the Straits of Carquinez into the back-water of Suisun.
- Extract from : « California » by Mary Austin
- There could never be any life equal to the old life, in the back-water into which she had drifted.
- Extract from : « Elsie Inglis » by Eva Shaw McLaren
- He'll swamp you with cracked ice and back-water if you don't get out of the way.
- Extract from : « The Gentle Grafter » by O. Henry
- With a desperate masterfulness he swept her from their back-water solitude out into the full current.
- Extract from : « What Will People Say? » by Rupert Hughes
- The brush grew high around the pond formed by the back-water and made a perfect shelter.
- Extract from : « The Dude Wrangler » by Caroline Lockhart
- I could now find vent for my “back-water,” since the empty cask would serve for that, in one case as well as the other.
- Extract from : « The Boy Tar » by Mayne Reid
- This back-water is a dangerous place to break down in, as the men on the Road know well.
- Extract from : « From Sea to Sea » by Rudyard Kipling
- From there he drifted to the old "Amberson Block," but this was fallen into a back-water; business had stagnated here.
- Extract from : « The Magnificent Ambersons » by Booth Tarkington
Antonyms for back-water
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019