backwards

BACK'WARDS, adverb [back and ward. See Ward.] With the back in advance; as, to move backward. 2. Toward the back; as, to throw the arms backward; to move backwards and forwards. 3. On the back, or with the back downwards; as, to fall backward. 4. Toward past times or events; as to look backward on the history of man. 5. By way of reflection; reflexively. 6. From a better to a worse state; as, public affairs go backward. 7. In time past; as, let us look some ages backward. 8. Perversely; from a wrong end. I never yet saw man but she would spell him backward. 9. Towards the beginning; in an order contrary to the natural order; as, to read backward. 10. In a scriptural sense, to go or turn backward, is to rebel, apostatize, or relapse into sin, or idolatry. Isaiah 1:1. 11. Contrarily; in a contrary manner. To be driven or turned backward, is to be defeated, or disappointed. Ps.xl.turn judgment backward, is to pervert justice and laws. Is.lix. BACK'WARD, adjective Unwilling; averse; reluctant; hesitating. For wiser brutes are backward to be slaves. 2. Slow; sluggish; dilatory. The mind is backward to undergo the fatigue of weighing every argument. 3. Dull; not quick of apprehension; behind in progress; as a backward learner. 4. Late; behind in time; coming after something else, or after the usual time; as backward fruits; the season is backward. BACK'WARD, noun The things or state behind or past. In the dark backward or abysm of time. [Not proper, nor in use.]