English

Verb

back out ‎(third-person singular simple present backs out, present participle backing out, simple past and past participle backed out)

1. To reverse a vehicle from a confined space.

   He backed out of the garage.

2. (idiomatic) To withdraw from something one has agreed to do.

   She backed out of organizing the fund-raising.

   • 1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, Bulldog Drummond Chapter 1

     The girl threw back her head and laughed merrily. "You poor young man," she cried; "put that way it does sound alarming." Then she grew serious again. "There's plenty of time for you to back out now if you like. Just call the waiter, and ask for my bill. We'll say good-bye, and the incident will finish."

3. (idiomatic) To dare someone to not withdraw from a challenge.
   • 1921, Nephi Anderson, Dorian Chapter 1

     "I can back you out."

     "How? Doin' what?" they asked.

     "Crossing the canal on the pole."

     "Shucks, you can't back me out," declared one of the boys, at which he darted across the swaying pole, and with a jump, landed safely across. Another boy went at it gingerly, and with the antics of a tight-rope walker, he managed to get to the other side. . . .

     "All right, Carlia," shouted the boys on the other bank. . . .

     Carlia placed her foot on the pole as if testing it. The other girls protested. She would fall in and drown.

     "You dared us; now who's the coward," cried the boys.

4. (idiomatic) A betting term from French hazard
   • 1921, Henry Luttrell, Crockford's : Or Life in the West Sketch No. III

     Whatever you throw is your chance. I called five for the main, which is the out chance, and threw seven to it, which is the in chance. If I throw five first, I lose, and if seven I win. You can back me in by betting the odds, or you can back me out, by taking the odds, the bank answers either way.

5. (idiomatic, computing) To undo a change.

   I had to back out the changes made to the computer when it became apparent that they had stopped it working properly.

Translations

See also

• back down
• back in
• back into
• back off
• back up

Anagrams

• outback