backscratch meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

backscratch

noun

Etymology From back + scratch.

A scratch on the back.

Several Colorado papers have reproduced the substance of our articles on silver, and we thank them for their backscratches.1931, The Mines Magazine, volume 21, page 9:
Backscratches keep improving but the itch increases.1989, Common Lives, Lesbian Lives, numbers 29-32, page 20:

2 more examples

I had to admit he had nice fingernails and a backscratch would have felt just fine.2011, Denise Giardina, The Unquiet Earth: A Novel:
Series of clotheslines no-sold, so Haku tries backscratches, and, interestingly, that finally works.2013, Ben Undelson, Fiction. A Nostalgic Guide to Growing up with the WWF:

verb

Etymology From back + scratch.

To scratch one's or another's back.

That thought appeared to discompose her greatly, though Jasper made light of it by rapidly back-scratching with his hind legs and giving a short stern bark, just to assure her that strangers would be rushed off the property on sight.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 127:
He enjoyed being hugged, backscratched, and tickled and sat quietly next to the examiner after testing while a parental interview was conducted.1984, Michael D. Powers, Behavioral Assessment of Severe Developmental Disabilities:

2 more examples

So it is to the mutual advantage of social primates to backscratch for each other.1995, Stephen R. Kellert, The Biophilia Hypothesis, page 397:
[…] primate's inclination to backscratch and delouse rather than venture into the dangerous country beyond familiar tramping grounds.2000, David Michael Jacobs, UFOs and Abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge, page 190:

Business, Government, Politics Slang To engage in a reciprocal beneficial action.

It was backscratched into existence, cost nearly a billion pounds, and now they are wondering why they let it happen.2003, Ralph Steadman, Doodaaa: The Balletic Art of Gavin Twinge, page 105:
The fount of social problems, he argues, is that human morality grew out of the natural principles of tit-for-tat and mutual backscratching.2008, Nicholas Fearn, The Latest Answers to the Oldest Questions:

1 more example

Whether referred to as bargaining, logrolling, or backscratching, the effect is the same: "you support me, I'll support you."2007, Jeffrey M. Elliot, The Presidential-Congressional Political Dictionary, page 178: