backsword ( w silent)

[Eng. back; sword.] 1. A sword with one sharp edge. "Bull dreaded not old Lewis at backsword."-Arbuthnot. 2. A stick with a basket handle, used in rustic amusements. [BASKET-HILT.] 406 back-ward, * back-warde, * băk'ward, back-wards, adv., a., & s. [Eng. back; -ward, or -wards.] A. As adverb: L. Of place: 1. With the back intentionally turned in the direction towards which one is moving. but I did not see a place where any one might not have walked over backwards , -Darwin : Voyage round the World , ch. xv. 2. So that the body naturally moves in the direction towards which one's back is situated. Upon the back, or tending thereto; downward, upon the back. he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake,..."-1 Sam . iv. 18. 3. Towards the back. (Used not of the whole body, but of part of it.) "In leaping with weights, the arms are first cast backwards, and then forwards with so much the greater force for the hands go backward before they take their rise."- Bacon . 4. In the direction opposite that in which a person or thing has been moving, so as to convert a forward into a retrograde movement; regre ively, retrogre ively. "The foremost, who rush on his strength but to die: Thus against the wall they went, Thus the first were backward bent." Byron: The Siege of Corinth, 53. "Are not the rays of light, in pa ing by the edges and sides of bodies, bent several times backwards and forwards with a motion like that of an eel?"- Newton . 5. Back to or towards the place whence a person came, so as to compel retreat. Also to the person or place whence a thing came. (a) Of persons: "We might have met them dareful, beard to beard, And beat them backward home." Shakesp.: Macbeth, v. 5. IMG:content-0988.png:[blocks in formation] 1. Reflexively. (Used of the mind turned upon itself.) "No, doubtle ; for the mind can backward cast Upon herself her understanding light." Sir J. Davies. 2. So as to fail in an endeavour; into failure, into foolishne , or into fools. let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil." Ps. xl. 14, "That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men back ward, and maketh their knowledge foolish. "-/sa. xliv. 25. 3. From what is good towards what is bad. Spec., so as to lose moral or spiritual attainments already made. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward , and not forward." -Jer . vii. 24. (See also XV. 6.) 4. In a perverse manner; with an intellectual or moral twist, or with both. IMG:content-0989.png:[blocks in formation] 1. Late in point of time. (Applied to flowers, fruits, ., expected to come to maturity at a certain season of the year.) 2. Behind in progre . (Applied to mental or other attainments, to institutions which have not kept pace with the times, .) "Yet, backward as they are, and long have been." Cowper: Tirocinium. "In a very backward state of society, like that of Europe in the middle ages, -J . S. Mill : Polit . Econ., vol. i., bk. i., ch. x., § 3. 3. Of dull comprehension; slow. "It often falls out, that the backward learner makes amends another way. " -South "Nor are the slave-owners generally backward in slave-owners gen learning this le on."-J 8. Mill: Polit. Econ ., vol. i, bk. ii., ch. v., § 1. 4. Averse to; unwilling. (a) From indolence. "The mind is backward to undergo the fatigue of weighing every argument."- Watts . (b) From not having attained to complete conviction of the expediency of doing what is proposed. "All things are ready, if our minds be so: Perish the man, whose mind is backward now!" Shakesp.: Henry V., iv. 3. "Our mutability makes the friends of our nation backward to engage with us in alliances."- Add is on . (c) From po e ing the strong conviction that what is proposed is detrimental. "Cities laid waste, they storm'd the dens and caves; For wiser brutes are backward to be slaves."-Pope. C. As substantive : The space behind or the time which has gone by. "What seest thou else In the dark backward or abysm of time?" Shakesp.: Tempest , 1. 2. back-ward-ā-tion, s. [Eng. backward ; -ation.] On the Stock Exchange: A consideration given to keep back the delivery of stock when the price is lower for time than for ready money. back-ward-lý, adv. [Eng. backward; -ly.] L. Lit. In a backward direction. "Like Numid fions by the hunters chas'd, Though they do fly, yet backwardly do go With proud aspect, disdaining greater haste." Sidney: Arcadia , bk. i. II. Figuratively : 1. In a backward manner; with an indisposition to come to the front, or if brought thither, then with a tendency to retreat; reluctantly, unwillingly. 2. Short of what might have been expected, or is due; perversely. "I was the first man That e'er receiv'd gift from him: And does he think so backwardly of me, That I'll requite it last." Shakesp.: Timon, iii. 8: back'-ward-ne , s. [Eng. backward ; -ne .] The quality of being backward. 1. Of persons: Reluctance, unwillingne ; hesitancy to remain on the foreground of action, or to come to the front and undertake action at all. "The thing by which we are apt to excuse our back wardne to good works, is the ill succe that hath been observed to attend well-designing charities."Atterbury. 2. Of things: The state of remaining behind the development which might have been expected at the time; latene . The opposite of forwardne or precocity . băck'-wards, adv. [BACKWARD.]