Word.ws English Dictionary

layback

layback noun: a spin in which the head and shoulders are dropped backwards and the back arched downwards toward the ice; also called a layback spin.

layback: a spin in which the head and shoulders are dropped backwards and the back arched downwards toward...
Image: Awartha, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

layback (plural laybacks)

  1. (figure skating) A spin in which the head and shoulders are dropped backwards and the back arched downwards toward the ice; also called a layback spin.
    • Mirai Nagasu, like Zhang a promising 14-year-old, showed equally astonishing flexibility on a layback spin Wednesday, leaning so far that the back of her head nearly touched her backside.2008 January 24, Pat Borzi, “Figure Skating's Next Ones Are Closing in on Their Moment”, in New York Times
  2. A maneuver to scale a vertical crack, by pulling with the arms and jamming the legs underneath, and shuffling up one limb at a time.
    • A layback, on the other hand, forces you to pull with your arms. A layback can protrude so far from the main rock face, that your legs will be dangling uselessly in the air, while your arms support all of your body weight. The tricky thing about the layback is that not only do you need the...2006 July 2, Antonio Graceffo, “A Day of Rocks and Sea: Kayaking and Climbing in Taiwan”, in asiantribune.com
  3. A surf maneuver where the upright surfer leans back against the wave.
  4. A trick where the boarder leans back while on the lip of the ramp, or down a rail.
  5. The process of recording the final sound onto the master track.
  6. A short backwards pass to a teammate in an attacking position.
    • Only a fine interception from Mickael Silvestre denied the marauding Czech international an early chance from Tomasz Radzinski's layback and, as United struggled to find any momentum, their hosts threatened to overwhelm them.2000 October 25, Daniel Taylor, “Radzinski double floors United”, in the Guardian
  7. A wedge-shaped kerbstone that allows a vehicle to enter a driveway without a bump

Verb

layback (third-person singular simple present laybacks, present participle laybacking, simple past and past participle laybacked)

  1. To climb using layback maneuvers.

Forms of layback

Noun
plurallaybacks
Verb
third-person singular presentlaybacks
present participlelaybacking
past participlelaybacked
pastlaybacked

Origin of layback

From lay + back (presumably from confusion between lay and lie).

Questions about layback

What does layback mean?
Layback means a spin in which the head and shoulders are dropped backwards and the back arched downwards toward the ice; also called a layback spin.
What part of speech is layback?
Layback can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of layback?
The plural of layback is laybacks.

Words near layback in the dictionary

  1. Layards
  2. layaway
  3. layawayed
  4. layawaying
  5. layaways
  6. layback
  7. laybacked
  8. laybacking
  9. laybacks
  10. laybarge
  11. laybarges

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: layback (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)-Flame, not lame-layback.wav.

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