Antonyms for backs up


Grammar : Verb
Spell : bak
Phonetic Transcription : bæk


Definition of backs up

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.
  • verb move backward
  • verb support
Example sentences :
  • But they did not come; rather they put their backs up and fought.
  • Extract from : « Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled » by Hudson Stuck
  • Levin backs up Giffen in every word he says, and I agree with both of them.
  • Extract from : « Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 98, February 1, 1890 » by Various
  • It's contradiction that makes women contrary; it sets their backs up, like.
  • Extract from : « Aunt Deborah » by Mary Russell Mitford
  • But it wasn't for the want of swatting, for it was just that that put the fellows' backs up.
  • Extract from : « That Scholarship Boy » by Emma Leslie
  • There is, secondly, a motive which backs up and buttresses this exhortation.
  • Extract from : « Expositions of Holy Scripture » by Alexander Maclaren
  • "See you've got the boys with their backs up, Chester," said Bijah.
  • Extract from : « Coniston, Complete » by Winston Churchill
  • They all look at him and he becomes embarrassed and backs up stage a little.
  • Extract from : « Mr. Pim Passes By » by Alan Alexander Milne
  • You can seem to consult me, but it must come from you to them, or else you will be getting their backs up.
  • Extract from : « Rujub, the Juggler » by G. A. Henty
  • "It backs up the judgment of my own group," said Senator Anderson.
  • Extract from : « The Ambassador » by Samuel Kimball Merwin
  • She'll only put people's backs up by going on as she's doing at present.
  • Extract from : « The Sixth Sense » by Stephen McKenna

Synonyms for backs up

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