Word.ws English Dictionary

backdam

Syllables: back·dam/ˈbækdæm/US/ˈbækˌdæm/

backdam noun: a dam that lies to the rear of something.

backdam: a dam that lies to the rear of something
Image: Lewis forbes, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

backdam (plural backdams)

  1. A dam that lies to the rear of something.
    • Two side dams are likewise thrown up, and extend as far as the cultivation, where they join a back dam; so that an estate is a complete island within itself, and dammed on all sides.1809, Henry Bolingbroke, chapter II, in A Voyage to the Demerary, Containing a Statistical Account of the Settlements there, and of Those on the Essequebo, the Berbice, and Other Contiguous Rivers of...
    • [...] I, by these presents, sell, alienate, and in feu-farm dispone from me, my heirs and successors, to and in favour of James Boog, [...] that small piece of ground at Canonmills, on which eight lime pits are built, lying betwixt the foredam and the backdam, on a narrow point, [...]1835, Patrick Shaw (reporter), Alexander Dunlop (reporter), J. M. Bell (reporter), John Murray (reporter), “Reverend Robert Hunter, Pursuer. … James Boog, Defender.”, in Cases Decided in the Court of...
    Antonyms:
    foredam
  2. (Guyana) A region of rural, undeveloped land, especially on the outskirts of a farm.
    • The cows are kept in stables erected in small yards, and are fed with concentrates and cut grass, obtained from the back[-]dams of estates.1934, Agricultural Journal of British Guiana, Georgetown, British Guiana: Department of Agriculture, British Guiana, →OCLC, page 115
    • "An hour" to King George was plainly only an indeterminate period of time, for if we asked him how long it would take to walk from the river-bank to a village in the "back[-]dam", he nearly always replied, "Eh, man! 'Bout one hour!" The unit of an hour was never divided or multiplied and "one hour"...1980, David Attenborough, “Spirits in the Night”, in The Zoo Quest Expeditions: Travels in Guyana, Indonesia, and Paraguay, Guildford, Surrey; London: The Lutterworth Press, →ISBN, Book 1 (Zoo Quest...

Examples of backdam in a sentence

  • On the estate Johanna Catharina on the right bank of the river, the backdam broke, so that bushwater came in; at „De Morgenster“ it oozed through the backdam.1909, A. E. De Jonge, “Canker of Cacao”, in W. Burck, J. W. Moll, Ed. Verschaffelt, Hugo de Vries, F. A. F. C. Went, transl., Recueil des...
  • In fact, even to-day many still refer to it as the Backdam.1958, Edgar Mittelholzer, With a Carib Eye, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC, page 152:
  • The factory thrusted and pounded, puffed, and its afternoon siren screamed its deafening blast and warning, marking the hour for labourers miles away in the backdams and sugarcane fields of endeavour.1988, Arnold Itwaru, Shanti, Leeds, Yorkshire: Peepal Tree Press, →ISBN, page 66:
  • The backdam is the region on the outskirts of plantations, which many slaves cultivated during and after slavery.2013, “Notes”, in Hanna Garth, editor, Food and Identity in the Caribbean, London; New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Academic, Bloomsbury...

Antonyms of backdam

  • foredam

Forms of backdam

pluralbackdams

Origin of backdam

From back + dam. Sense 2 (“region of rural, undeveloped land”) is possibly a transferred use in Guyana of the term originally referring to a dam built on the side of coastal agricultural land furthest from the sea to prevent swamp water from flowing into the land, to mean the region in the vicinity of the dam.

Questions about backdam

What does backdam mean?
Backdam means a dam that lies to the rear of something.
How do you use backdam in a sentence?
On the estate Johanna Catharina on the right bank of the river, the backdam broke, so that bushwater came in; at „De Morgenster“ it oozed through the backdam.
What part of speech is backdam?
Backdam is a noun.
How do you pronounce backdam?
Backdam is pronounced /ˈbækdæm/ (UK).
What is the plural of backdam?
The plural of backdam is backdams.

Words near backdam in the dictionary

  1. backcross
  2. backcrossed
  3. backcrosses
  4. backcrossing
  5. backcrossings
  6. backdam
  7. backdams
  8. backdash
  9. backdashes
  10. backdate
  11. backdated

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: backdam (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-backdam.wav.

Cite this entry: “backdam.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/backdam. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.