The Collaborative International Dictionary
Back \Back\, a.
Being at the back or in the rear; distant; remote; as, the back door; back settlements.
Being in arrear; overdue; as, back rent.
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Moving or operating backward; as, back action.
Back blocks, Australian pastoral country which is remote from the seacoast or from a river. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
Back charges, charges brought forward after an account has been made up.
Back filling (Arch.), the mass of materials used in filling up the space between two walls, or between the inner and outer faces of a wall, or upon the haunches of an arch or vault.
Back pressure. (Steam Engine) See under Pressure.
Back rest, a guide attached to the slide rest of a lathe, and placed in contact with the work, to steady it in turning.
Back slang, a kind of slang in which every word is written or pronounced backwards; as, nam for man.
Back stairs, stairs in the back part of a house; private stairs. Also used adjectively. See Back stairs, Backstairs, and Backstair, in the Vocabulary.
Back step (Mil.), the retrograde movement of a man or body of men, without changing front.
Back stream, a current running against the main current of a stream; an eddy.
To take the back track, to retrace one's steps; to retreat.
Backstairs \Back"stairs`\, Back stairs \Back" stairs`\ (b[a^]k"st[^a]rz`) n. Stairs in the back part of a house, as distinguished from the front stairs; a second staircase at the rear of a building; hence, a private or indirect way.
Wiktionary
n. (alternative spelling of backstairs English)
Usage examples of "back stairs".
Wallace and his sister-in-law, Joyce, were in her room, so they say, and didn't see anything but the dead woman when they ran out, though they think they heard something that could've been somebody running downstairs-the back stairs.
From the main landing he walked along the narrow corridor until he stood at the head of the back stairs.
Something happened that made him get up and dress in a hurry, and go out by the back stairs.
The Judge's voice came from the top of the back stairs, rising over the yells of the man pinned under the television.
Bart would be up the back stairs like a bullet, and when he found the door was blocked he would really blow up.
She picked up the poker from the nursery fender and went down the back stairs, with Twyla following her.
He was accustomed to his three or four cigarettes in a morning, and after three days without it he followed Charley Moore by a circuitous route up a flight of back stairs to a little balcony where they indulged in peace.
She comes up the back stairs and never bothers us when we're in that room.