Search the Dictionary

In the part that precedes or goes first; -- opposed to aft, after, back, behind, etc.

Any sight or reading of the leveling staff, except the backsight; any sight or bearing taken by a compass or theodolite in a forward direction.

Throughly; from beginning to end. [Obs.] Shak. And so forth, Back and forth, From forth. See under And, Back, and From. -- Forth of, Forth from, out of [Obs.] Shak. -- To bring forth. See under Bring.

ward a part or place before or in front; onward; in advance; progressively; -- opposed to backward.

The forked piece between two adjacent fingers, to which the front and back portions are sewed. Knight.

e rear wheel to run on free from the rear sprocket when the pedals are stopped or rotated backwards. Freewheelcycles are usually fitted with hub brakes or rim brakes, operated by back pedaling.

Auricula. See Bear's-ear. -- French fake (Naut.), a mode of coiling a rope by running it backward and forward in parallel bends, so that it may run freely. -- French honeysuckle (Bot.) a plant of the genus Hedysarum (H. coronarium); -- called also garland honeysuckle. -- French horn, a metallic wind instrument, cons…

To provide or decorate with a frill or frills; to turn back. in crimped plaits; as, to frill a cap.

From; away; back or backward; -- now used only in oppositionto the word to, in the phrase to and fro, that is, to and from. See To and fro under To. Millon.

irected forward; the fore or forward part; the foremost rank; the van; -- the opposite to back or rear; as, the front of a house; the front of an army. Had he his hurts before Ay, on the front. Shak.

In Bryozoa, an organ extending back from the stomach. See Bryozoa, and Phylactolema.

To be frightened, and shrink back; to flinch; as, to funk at the edge of a precipice. [Colloq.] C. Kingsley. To funk out, to back out in a cowardly fashion. [Colloq.] To funk right out o' political strife. Lowell (Biglow Papers).

A shrinking back through fear. [Colloq.] "The horrid panic, or funk (as the men of Eton call it)." De Quincey.

in of by rubbing; to chafe; to injure the surface of by attrition; as, a saddle galls the back of a horse; to gall a mast or a cable. I am loth to gall a new-healed wound. Shak.

To gallop, as on horseback.

Backgammon.

A European marine fish (Belone vulgaris); -- called also gar, gerrick, greenback, greenbone, gorebill, hornfish, longnose, mackerel guide, sea needle, and sea pike.

A figure of St. George (the patron saint of England) on horseback, appended to the collar of the Order of the Garter. See Garter.

Exercise in which one is borne or carried, as on horseback, or in a carriage, without the exertion of his own powers; passive exercise. Dunglison.

One of several finback whales of the North Atlantic; -- called also Jupiter whale. [Written also jubartas, gubertas, dubertus.]