Word.ws English Dictionary

oxback

oxback noun: the back of an ox (being ridden, or laden with luggage, as a means of transportation).

oxback: the back of an ox (being ridden, or laden with luggage, as a means of transportation)
Image: Kun, Aleksandr L., 1840-1888, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

oxback (uncountable)

  1. (usually, with-on) The back of an ox (being ridden, or laden with luggage, as a means of transportation).
    • 3. A bushman on oxback, and our guide on horseback. 4. My wagon and ten oxen. 5. Our flock of sheep and goats. 6. Our third wagon and ten oxen. 7. The chief and his son, on oxback. 8. Our spare oxen.1841, Robert Philip, The life, times, and missionary enterprises, of the rev. John Campbell, page 441
    • Grenfell had travelled 1,000 miles on oxback; a new experience to him, but a most con venient manner of getting over the country. [Photo of a man riding an ox.] GRENFELL ON OXBACK1900, William Holman Bentley, Pioneering on the Congo, page 224

Origin of oxback

From ox + back, modelled on horseback.

Questions about oxback

What does oxback mean?
Oxback means the back of an ox (being ridden, or laden with luggage, as a means of transportation).
What part of speech is oxback?
Oxback is a noun.

Words near oxback in the dictionary

  1. oxazolone
  2. oxazolones
  3. oxazolyl
  4. oxazone
  5. oxazones
  6. oxback
  7. oxbane
  8. oxbird
  9. oxbirds
  10. oxblood
  11. Oxborough

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: oxback (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.

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