ABACK

adv. n.

4 definitions — Webster’s Dictionary (1828)

1.
adv.

Toward the back or rear; backward. "Therewith aback she started." Chaucer.

2.
adv.

Behind; in the rear. Knolles.

3.
adv.

Backward against the mast;-said of the sails when pressed by the wind. Totten. To be taken aback. (a) To be driven backward against the mast; -- said of the sails, also of the ship when the sails are thus driven. (b) To be suddenly checked, baffled, or discomfited. Dickens.

4.
n.

An abacus. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

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