backgammon (bakgamon)

[Also formerly (see gammon and gamel ); appar. so called be bag gammon; cause in certain circumstances the pieces are obliged to go back and reënter. The reason of the name is not certain, but the formation is clear. Cf. back -game.] 1. A game played by two persons upon a table or board made for the purpose, with pieces or men, dice-boxes, and dice. The board is in two parts, usually hinged to gether, on which twenty-four spaces, called points, are marked. Each player has fifteen men, with which movements are made in accordance with the numbers turned up by the dice, the object of each player being to advance his men to the last six points, and then "throw them off," or remove them entirely from the board. IMG:content-1523.png:[blocks in formation] 3. In photog., the plain or decorated screens, properties, etc., placed behind the subject in taking portraits, especially in regular gallery work, in order to form an appropriate setting in the finished picture. backhand (bak'hand), (bak hand), n. and a. I. n. 1. Writing which slopes backward or to the left: as, he writes backhand.-2t. In tennis, the position behind the principal player. No, faith, that's odds at tennis, my lord; not but if your ladyship pleases, I'll endeavour to keep your back hand a little, tho' upon my soul you may safely set me up at the line. Cibber , Carele Husband, iv. II. a . Backhanded; unfavorable; unfair: as, a backhand influence. backhanded (bak'han ded), a. 1. With the back of the hand: as, a backhanded blow.-2. Done or effected with the hand turned backward, cro wise, or in any oblique direction; marked by a backward slope, direction, or effect: as, backhanded writing; a backhanded stroke in sword-play or lawn-tennis. In the lat ter game a backhanded stroke is one that causes the ball rotate so to have on striking the ground to bound backward in the direction of the strike Hence-3. Figuratively, oblique in meaning; indirect; equivocal; ambiguous; sarcastic: as, a backhanded compliment.-4. Twisted in the opposite way from the usual method: said of a IMG:content-1524.png:[blocks in formation] back housel (bak'hous), n. [ IMG:content-1525.png:[blocks in formation] son, horse, a contest; one indorses the notes or sustains the credit of another. 3. In arch . , a narrow slate laid on the back of a broad square-headed one, where the slates begin to diminish in width.-4. Naut ., a strap of rope or sennit fastened to a yard-arm to se- cure the head-earings of a sail. backer2t, adv . [ back1 , adv ., + -er2.] Same as backer more . gammon is played.