Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 1.pdf/105

 first to one shore, and then backing to the other, allowing the stream to make the way, the wind blowing in an opposite direction to the stream.

Backing-On.—See Turning-on.

Backings Up, subs. (Winchester College).—The unconsumed ends of half-burned fagots. They are collected and sometimes made into surreptitious fires by 'Juniors.'

Back Jump, subs. (thieves').—A back window.—See Jump.

Backmarked. To be backmarked, verb. (pedestrian).—In handicapping to receive less start from 'scratch' than previously given—even to being put back to 'scratch.'

Back Out, verb. (colloquial).—To retreat cautiously and tacitly; from stable phraseology; e.g., the backing out of a horse. Very much the same as to back down (q.v).

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. viii. Jobson, however, was determined that Morris should not back out of the scrape so easily.

1855. A. Trollope, The Warden, ch. xii. How was he to back out of a matter in which his name was already so publicly concerned?

1870. L. Oliphant, Piccadilly, pt. IV., p. 152. I am sure that he had done his best to spread the report of my marriage with his sister for fear of my backing out.

Back Scuttle, verb. (thieves').—The same as back-slang (q.v).

Back-Seam. To be down on one's back-seam, phr. (tailors').—To be down on one's luck; to be unfortunate.

Back Seat- To take a back seat, phr. (American}.—Figuratively, to retire into obscurity; it also sometimes implies a silent confession of failure; an inability to accomplish what one has attempted. The colloquialism has gained a world-wide currency; it received an immense 'send off,' as the Americans say, from Andrew Johnson's famous saying in 1868, that in the work of Reconstruction traitors should take back seats.

1885. Society, Feb. 7, p. 9. This great batting achievement must, however, take a back seat when compared with the enormous total recently scored by Shaw's Eleven in Australia, against a powerful Colonial team.

1888. Daily News, Feb. 24, p. 5, col. 2. Any form of art which is barred by its very nature from perfection must take what the Americans call a back seat.

1888. Texas Siftings, p. 426. Who will say the Britishers are not a forbearing and forgiving race, and the inhabitants of Stratford-on-Avon don't by any means take a back seat in that line? Ignatius Donnelly actually visited the birthplace of Shakespeare, and wasn't lynched! Far from it, he was hospitably received and entertained.

Back-Slum, subs. (colloquial).—The lowest and most disreputable quarters of a town or city; generally applied to the dens and rookeries of the criminal and 'outcast' classes.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff's Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Scene 5. Log. Well, don't grumble—every one must pay for his learning—and you wouldn't bilk the schoolmaster, would you? But, come, I'm getting merry; so if you wish for a bit of good truth, come with me, and let's have a dive among the cadgers in the back slums, in the Holy Land. Jerry. Back slums—Holy Land!—I'm at fault again. Log. Why, among the beggars in Dyot Street, St. Giles's. Tom. Beggars! ah, we shall be very good figures for the part. (Turns out his pockets.)