noun
- The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.
- That which is farthest away from the front.
- Upper part of a natural object which is considered to resemble an animal's back.
- A support or resource in reserve.
- The keel and keelson of a ship.
- The roof of a horizontal underground passage.
- Effort, usually physical.
- A non-alcoholic drink (often water or a soft drink), to go with hard liquor or a cocktail.
- Among leather dealers, one of the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
Synonyms: dorsum, reverse
verb
- To go in the reverse direction.
- To support.
- (of the wind) To change direction contrary to the normal pattern; that is, to shift anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere, or clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
- (of a square sail) To brace the yards so that the wind presses on the front of the sail, to slow the ship.
- (of an anchor) To lay out a second, smaller anchor to provide additional holding power.
- (of a hunting dog) To stand still behind another dog which has pointed.
- To push or force backwards.
- To get upon the back of; to mount.
- To place or seat upon the back.
- To make a back for; to furnish with a back.
- To adjoin behind; to be at the back of.
- To write upon the back of, possibly as an endorsement.
- (of a justice of the peace) To sign or endorse (a warrant, issued in another county, to apprehend an offender).
- To row backward with (oars).
noun
- A large shallow vat; a cistern, tub, or trough, used by brewers, distillers, dyers, picklers, gluemakers, and others, for mixing or cooling wort, holding water, hot glue, etc.
- A ferryboat.
Pronunciation
About this word
Backs is a 3-meaning word in English. Medium-length words often have several interesting anagrams.
This page shows the definition of backs along with every other word you can make from its letters. Click the link above to see all anagrams and shorter words formed from the same set of letters.
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Words in word games
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Scrabble
In Scrabble, the valid word lists are the Official Tournament and Club Word List (OTCWL/NWL) for North America and the Collins Scrabble Words (CSW) for international play. Our dictionary covers most words in both lists, but some proper nouns, abbreviations, and offensive terms may differ.
Wordle
Wordle uses its own curated word list that is smaller than the full Scrabble dictionary. If Backs appears here, it may or may not be a valid Wordle answer — but it is a real English word regardless.
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