back water
back water is the alternative spelling of backwater.
Meaning of backwater
Noun
backwater (plural backwaters)
- The water held back by a dam or other obstruction.
- […] The backwater separates the main line from Hinksey marshalling yards1956 May, “Beside a Thames Backwater”, in Railway Magazine, page unnumbered, frontispiece
- A remote place: somewhere that remains unaffected by new events, progresses, ideas, etc; any field of endeavor that figuratively resembles such a place.
- Near-synonyms: (place) jerkwater town, one-horse town, Podunk; see also Thesaurus:remote place
- Synonyms:
- jerkwater town, one-horse town, Podunk, Isolated town, bump in the road, jerkwater, jerk-water, wide spot in the road, Isolated place, arse end of nowhere
- A rowing stroke in which the oar is pushed forward to stop the boat; see back water
- Water used in the papermaking process. Recycled to reduce usage of fresh water, and usually containing residual amounts of chemicals and fibres.
- The back-water (overflow) can be used for "thinning down" the chests when emptying. If "Wastive" does this, his mind will be at ease regarding waste of pulp, and his machine-men will be happy and do their work much better than by trying to use all the back-water on the paper machine.1908, An Old Machineman, “Re Back-water Query.”, in The World's Paper Trade Review, page 14
- Synonyms:
- overflow
Verb
back water (third-person singular simple present backs water, present participle backing water, simple past and past participle backed water)
- To reverse the action of the oars, paddles, or propeller, so as to force the boat or ship backward.
Forms of back water
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | back waters |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | backs water |
| present participle | backing water |
| past participle | backed water |
| past | backed water |
Questions about back water
- What does back water mean?
- Back water means to reverse the action of the oars, paddles, or propeller, so as to force the boat or ship backward.
- What is back water the alternative spelling of?
- Back water is the alternative spelling of backwater.
- What part of speech is back water?
- Back water is a verb.
- What is the past tense of back water?
- The past tense of back water is backed water.
Words near back water in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: back water (page history and authors); backwater (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “back water.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/back_water. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.