back of

(redirected from at the back of)

(in) back of (something)

Behind something. There was some more honey in the cabinet—I found it in back of all the cereal boxes.
See also: back, of

back of

Also, at the back of; in back of. Behind; also, supporting. For example, The special brands were stored back of the counter, or "Franklin stood back of me in everything I wanted to do" (Eleanor Roosevelt, quoted by Catherine Drinker Bowen, Atlantic Monthly, March 1970). The first term, dating from the late 1600s, was long criticized as an undesirable colloquialism but today is generally considered acceptable. The variants, at the back of, from about 1400, and in back of, from the early 1900s, also can be used both literally and figuratively and could be substituted for back of in either example. Also see back of beyond.
See also: back, of
References in classic literature ?
Tess had spoken to her husband from the doorway, without entering the dining-room, and Mrs Brooks, who stood within the partly-closed door of her own sitting-room at the back of the passage, could hear fragments of the conversation--if conversation it could be called--between those two wretched souls.
Descending from the table, she left the parlour, and went upstairs, intending to enter the room overhead, which was the bedchamber at the back of the drawing-room.
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They crossed a room filled with sailors of all nations drinking; ascended a staircase at the back of the house, and stopped at the door of the room on the second floor.
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As the toes begin to move toward the back and the heel forward, it is necessary to bend the working knee and take it clearly back and to the side; the working foot will then attach at the back of the supposing ankle.
Sur le Cou-de-Pied
Assume that three players are in a straight line - A at the back of the line and C near the goal.
Three-player pass combinations: the key lies in delivering the through pass to the third player
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