back up
verb12 senses
- 1To move backwards, especially for a vehicle to do so.
- 2To move a vehicle backwards.
- 3To undo one's actions.
- 4To reconsider one's thoughts.
- 5To copy (data) so that it can be restored if the main…
- 6To provide support or the promise of support to.
- 7For the non-striker to take a few steps down the pitch…
- 8For a fielder to position himself behind the wicket…
- 9To halt the flow or movement of something.
- 10To fill up because of a backlog.
- 11To run a printing press in reverse.
- 12If a property backs up to another property, that means…
Idiomatic To move backwards, especially for a vehicle to do so.
- That beeping sound indicates that the truck is backing up.
- We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine.[…]As we reached the lodge we heard the whistle, and we backed up against one side of the platform as the train pulled up at the other.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
Idiomatic To move a vehicle backwards.
- Back up the car a little, you're blocking the driveway.
Idiomatic To undo one's actions.
- I couldn't see how to finish the project, so I backed up and tried it another way.
Idiomatic To reconsider one's thoughts.
- This isn't working. Let's back up and think about it.
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences Idiomatic To copy (data) so that it can be restored if the main copy is lost.
- Back up your documents folder before applying the update.
Idiomatic To provide support or the promise of support to.
- You should be careful. This guy is backed up by the local gang.
- When he said I wasn't there, I told him I was, and my buddy backed me up.
4 more examples
- "All the same, governor, what he says is right," put in the other, anxious to back up his friend now that the first step had been taken.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:
- Thank you for backing me up. I know it's not easy delivering bad news-especially to a friend-but sometimes it's the only way we can move forward and begin to heal.2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Update on Jaal:
- Researching and corroborating facts to put in my script is one thing, but getting sources to back up the assertions of interviewed contributors can be quite another.2020 May 6, Tim Dunn, “The Architecture The Railways Built”, in Rail, page 76:
- It turns out, there’s research that backs up the usefulness of lowering our expectations. Participants in one study had to make decisions that either led to financial gains or losses, all while inside a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. Researchers then duplicated this experiment as an app to crowdsource more data.2024 May 14, Clay Drinko, “Lower Your Expectations”, in Psychology Today:
Ball games, Cricket, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports Idiomatic For the non-striker to take a few steps down the pitch, in preparation to taking a run, just as the bowler bowls the ball.
Ball games, Cricket, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports Idiomatic For a fielder to position himself behind the wicket (relative to a team-mate who is throwing the ball at the wicket) so as to stop the ball, and prevent overthrows.
Idiomatic, Of a blockage To halt the flow or movement of something.
- When I flushed the toilet, the plumbing backed up and burst.
- WAITRESS: Hurry up with those drinks, Lucy. We're backing up. (Grabs the drinks LUCY has poured.) What are you doing? These are regular. They all ordered large.1995, "Oubliette" (episode of The X-Files TV series)
Media, Printing, Publishing Obsolete To run a printing press in reverse.
Idiomatic If a property backs up to another property, that means it abuts or shares a border with another property.
- We bought this house specifically because it backs up to our son's school.
- Derived terms
- backupable