ABACK • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Aback

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/əbˈæk/ Listen

adverb

Aback adv.

Toward the back or rear; backward. "Therewith aback she started."

Behind; in the rear.

(Naut.) Backward against the mast; said of the sails when pressed by the wind.

To be taken aback.

(a)

To be driven backward against the mast; said of the sails, also of the ship when the sails are thus driven.

(b)

To be suddenly checked, baffled, or discomfited.

noun

Aback n. An abacus. (Obs.)

See images of 'Aback'

Etymology of 'Aback'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Aback" Quotes from Famous Books

... earth have you been?" asked Virginia, so candidly that Wayward, taken aback, began excuses. But Constance Palliser's cheeks turned pink; and remained so during her ...

— The Firing Line • Robert W. Chambers

... moment's pause. Obviously we were strangers. Then it was that Senator Allison, of Iowa, who had in his goodness of heart purposely brought about this very situation, introduced us. The general reddened. I was taken aback. But there was no escape, and carrying it off amiably we shook hands. It is needless to say that then and there we dropped our groundless feud and remained the rest of his life very ...

— Marse Henry, Complete - An Autobiography • Henry Watterson

... hovers still, and ne'er takes wing, But with a silent charm compels the stern And tort'ring Genius of the bitter spring, To shrink aback, and cower upon ...

— Poems of Coleridge • Coleridge, ed Arthur Symons

... see nothing of Mrs. Willoughby now,' said Clarice quietly as soon as he had stopped. Fielding was for the moment taken aback. It seemed to him that the point of view was unfair. 'Widows,' he replied with great sententiousness,—'widows are different,' and he took his leave without explaining wherein the difference lay. He wondered, ...

— The Philanderers • A.E.W. Mason

... so taken aback by this unexpected coolness that the flowers lay unnoticed as she looked up with a face so full of surprise, reproach, and something like shame that it was impossible to mistake its meaning. Charlie did not, and had the grace to redden deeply, and his eyes fell as ...

— Rose in Bloom - A Sequel to "Eight Cousins" • Louisa May Alcott

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