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.
Backward
(Back"ward), n. The state behind or past. [Obs.]
In the dark backward and abysm of time.
Shak.
Backward
(Back"ward), v. t. To keep back; to hinder. [Obs.]
Backwardation
(Back`war*da"tion) n. [Backward, v. t. + -ation.] (Stock Exchange) The seller's postponement
of delivery of stock or shares, with the consent of the buyer, upon payment of a premium to the latter; —
also, the premium so paid. See Contango. Biddle.
Backwardly
(Back"ward*ly) adv.
1. Reluctantly; slowly; aversely. [Obs.] Sir P. Sidney.
2. Perversely; ill. [Obs.]
And does he think so backwardly of me?
Shak.
Backwardness
(Back"ward*ness), n. The state of being backward.
Backwash
(Back"wash`) v. t. To clean the oil from (wool) after combing. Ash.
Backwater
(Back"wa`ter) n. [Back, a. or adv. + -water.]
1. Water turned back in its course by an obstruction, an opposing current, or the flow of the tide, as in a
sewer or river channel, or across a river bar.
2. An accumulation of water overflowing the low lands, caused by an obstruction.
3. Water thrown back by the turning of a waterwheel, or by the paddle wheels of a steamer.
Backwoods
(Back"woods") n. pl. [Back, a. + woods.] The forests or partly cleared grounds on the
frontiers.
Backwoodsman
(Back"woods"man) n.; pl. Backwoodsmen A man living in the forest in or beyond the
new settlements, especially on the western frontiers of the older portions of the United States. Fisher
Ames.
Backworm
(Back"worm`) n. [2d back, n. + worm.] A disease of hawks. See Filanders. Wright.
