back scratcher

or back-scratcher, backscratcher

See synonyms for: back scratcherback scratching on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a long-handled device for scratching one's own back.

  2. a person who exchanges favors or services for mutual advantage.

Origin of back scratcher

1
First recorded in 1785–95

Other words from back scratcher

  • back scratching, noun

Words Nearby back scratcher

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use back scratcher in a sentence

  • Ive some nice three-legged kettles, a soup tureen that came over in the Mayflower, an ivory back-scratcher that hails from India.

    Peter Cotterell's Treasure | Rupert Sargent Holland
  • On a writing-table lay a volume of Shakespeare, and, on an occasional table, a carved ivory back-scratcher.

    Dead Souls | Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol

British Dictionary definitions for backscratcher

backscratcher

/ (ˈbækˌskrætʃə) /


noun
  1. an implement with a long handle, used for scratching one's back

  2. informal a person who provides a service, corporate or public money etc, for another, in order to receive a similar service or reward in return

Derived forms of backscratcher

  • backscratching, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012