English

Verb

to back away ‎(phrasal verb)

1. (intransitive) To move in a direction opposite where one is facing, keeping some (or most) of your attention on the thing in front being avoided.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ […].” So I started to back away again into the bushes. But I hadn't backed more'n a couple of yards when I see something so amazing that I couldn't help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it.

Synonyms

• retreat

Translations