Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Backward

Back′ward, Back′wards, adv. [Back, adv. + -ward.] 1. With the back in advance or foremost; as, to ride backward.

2. Toward the back; toward the rear; as, to throw the arms backward.

3. On the back, or with the back downward.

Thou wilt fall backward. Shak.

4. Toward, or in, past time or events; ago.

Some reigns backward. Locke.

5. By way of reflection; reflexively. Sir J. Davies.

6. From a better to a worse state, as from honor to shame, from religion to sin.

The work went backward. Dryden.

7. In a contrary or reverse manner, way, or direction; contrarily; as, to read backwards.

We might have . . . beat them backward home. Shak.

Back′ward, a. 1. Directed to the back or rear; as, backward glances.

2. Unwilling; averse; reluctant; hesitating; loath.

For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves. Pope.

3. Not well advanced in learning; not quick of apprehension; dull; inapt; as, a backward child. "The backward learner." South.

4. Late or behindhand; as, a backward season.

5. Not advanced in civilization; undeveloped; as, the country or region is in a backward state.

6. Already past or gone; bygone. [R.]

And flies unconscious o'er each backward year. Byron.

Back′ward, n. The state behind or past. [Obs.]

In the dark backward and abysm of time. Shak.

Back′ward, v. t. To keep back; to hinder. [Obs.]

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.