Antonyms for back-water

Grammar : Verb

Spell : bak

Phonetic Transcription : bæk

Definition 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

Example sentences :

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

Synonyms for back-water

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019