back out

Verb

back out (third-person singular simple present backs out, present participle backing out, simple past and past participle backed out)

1. (transitive) To reverse (a vehicle) from a confined space.
   • He backed out of the garage.
   • A dirt road ran from the highway past the dump, down to a small Negro settlement some five hundred yards beyond the Ewells‘. It was necessary either to back out to the highway or go the full length of the road and turn around; most people turned around in the Negroes’ front yards.1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC
2. (intransitive) To withdraw from something one has agreed to do.
   • She backed out of organizing the fund-raising.
   • The girl threw back her head and laughed merrily. "You poor young man," she cried; "put that way it does sound alarming." Then she grew serious again. "There's plenty of time for you to back out now if you like. Just call the waiter, and ask for my bill. We'll say good-bye, and the incident will...1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, chapter 1, in Bulldog Drummond
3. (transitive) To convince (someone) to withdraw from a challenge.
   • "I can back you out."
     "How? Doin' what?" they asked.
     "Crossing the canal on the pole."
     "Shucks, you can't back me out," declared one of the boys, at which he darted across the swaying pole, and with a jump, landed safely across. Another boy went at it gingerly, and with the antics of a tight-rope...1921, Nephi Anderson, chapter 1, in Dorian
4. To bet on someone losing.
   • Whatever you throw is your chance. I called five for the main, which is the out chance, and threw seven to it, which is the in chance. If I throw five first, I lose, and if seven I win. You can back me in by betting the odds, or you can back me out, by taking the odds, the bank answers either way.1921, Henry Luttrell, Crockford's : Or Life in the West Sketch No. III
   • See also: sell short
5. (transitive) To undo (a change).
   • I had to back out the changes made to the computer when it became apparent that they had stopped it working properly.
6. (intransitive) To exit a mode or function.
   • I chose that menu option by accident, so I pressed Escape to back out.
7. (Multicultural-London-English, transitive) To draw from behind the back (a knife etc.) (as also bare back).
   • Anything 4 get bun, back it out see the paigons run
     Can't believe that my door got spun, I just got nicked for a loaded gun2018 September 13, YB (9th Street), “Don’t Make Sense”, 2:06–2:11