Nearby Words

backtrack

[bak-trak] Origin

back·track

[bak-trak]
verb (used without object)
1.
to return over the same course or route.
2.
to withdraw from an undertaking, position, etc.; reverse a policy.

Origin:
1715–25, Americanism; back2 + track
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Backtrack is one of our favorite verbs.
So is bowdlerise. Does it mean:
to flee; abscond:
to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.
Collins
World English Dictionary
backtrack (ˈbækˌtræk)
 
vb
1.  to return by the same route by which one has come
2.  to retract or reverse one's opinion, action, policy, etc
 
'backtracking
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

backtrack
"retrace one's steps," 1904, from back (adj.) + track (v.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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