What is "back step"

Step \Step\, n. [AS. st[ae]pe. See Step, v. i.]

1. An advance or movement made by one removal of the foot; a pace.

2. A rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a round of a ladder.

   The breadth of every single step or stair should be never less than one foot.
   --Sir H. Wotton.

3. The space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running; as, one step is generally about three feet, but may be more or less. Used also figuratively of any kind of progress; as, he improved step by step, or by steps.

   To derive two or three general principles of motion from phenomena, and afterwards to tell us how the properties and actions of all corporeal things follow from those manifest principles, would be a very great step in philosophy.
   --Sir I. Newton.

4. A small space or distance; as, it is but a step.

5. A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track.

6. Gait; manner of walking; as, the approach of a man is often known by his step.

7. Proceeding; measure; action; an act.

   The reputation of a man depends on the first steps he makes in the world.
   --Pope.

   Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day, Live till to-morrow, will have passed away.
   --Cowper.

   I have lately taken steps . . . to relieve the old gentleman's distresses.
   --G. W. Cable.

8. pl. Walk; passage.

   Conduct my steps to find the fatal tree.
   --Dryden.

9. pl. A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position.

10. (Naut.) In general, a framing in wood or iron which is intended to receive an upright shaft; specif., a block of wood, or a solid platform upon the keelson, supporting the heel of the mast.

11. (Mach.)

    1. One of a series of offsets, or parts, resembling the steps of stairs, as one of the series of parts of a cone pulley on which the belt runs.

    2. A bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves.

12. (Mus.) The intervak between two contiguous degrees of the csale.

    Note: The word tone is often used as the name of this interval; but there is evident incongruity in using tone for indicating the interval between tones. As the word scale is derived from the Italian scala, a ladder, the intervals may well be called steps.

13. (Kinematics) A change of position effected by a motion of translation.
    --W. K. Clifford.

14. (Fives) At Eton College, England, a shallow step dividing the court into an inner and an outer portion.

    Back step, Half step, etc. See under Back, Half, etc.

    Step grate, a form of grate for holding fuel, in which the bars rise above one another in the manner of steps.

    To take steps, to take action; to move in a matter.

Back \Back\, a.

1. Being at the back or in the rear; distant; remote; as, the back door; back settlements.

2. Being in arrear; overdue; as, back rent.

3. 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.