| 释义 |
▪ I. backing, vbl. n.|ˈbækɪŋ|
[f. back v. + -ing1.]
I. The action of the vb. back in various senses.
1. The action of supporting at the back.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 165 Call you that backing of your friends? a plague vpon such backing! 1633Ames Agst. Cerem. ii. 281 For the backinge of the former consequence, this reason was added. 1875Helps Anim. & Mast. v. 133 My ready backing of my friend.
2. The mounting of a horse; the breaking in of a colt to the saddle.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 240 It is good to use your horse to backing both sadled and bare. 1783Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell), The backing of a horse, equi domitura.
3. The action of putting or moving back; a throwing back in progress; retardation.
1649W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. ii. (1653) 10 A great part of that land lyeth as it were drowned..it overcomes not that backing many times till near Midsummer.
4. Motion in a backward direction, esp. of the wind in a direction opposed to the sun's. backing and filling (see back v. 16 b). U.S.
1686Plot Staffordsh. 25 Who foretold them by the Winds backing to the Sun, i.e. opposing its course. 1777in Essex (Salem, Mass.) Inst. Hist. Coll. (1906) XLII. 315 He was then order'd..to Stillwarter, then ordered from Stillwarter to Benington... This in the Salers Frase is Backing & filling, makes but poor way a head. 1854N.Y. Herald 15 June (Bartlett), There has been so much backing and filling, not only upon the Cuban question, but upon every other. 1869R. Semmes Mem. Service Afloat 255 The reader need no longer wonder at the backing and filling of the Iroquois around the little Sumter. 1875Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. iv. 91 From West to South-West, South, and South-East, the change is called backing. 1884Ingersoll in Harper's Mag. 876/2 Rivers would be able to dispose of their water in the full season without its backing up.
attrib.1903S. Clapin Dict. Amer. 31 A backing and filling policy is one which is shilly-shally, trifling, irresolute. 1949Amer. speech XXIV. 172 Tickers slowed down and a series of backing and filling movements made the pattern for the day.
5. techn.
a. Printing, ‘Perfecting’ a sheet already printed on one side, by printing it on the other.
b. Bookbinding, Preparing the back of a book with glue, etc. before putting on the cover.
1846Printing Appar. Amateurs 42 When a second impression was added at the back, which is called backing, or working the reiteration.
6. a. backing-down: withdrawal, shirking. b. backing-off: unwinding silk or cotton. c. backing-up in Cricket, etc.: see back v. 8. Also in other games.
1816W. Lambert Cricketer's Guide (ed. 6) iii. 40 Getting behind the Wicket-keeper when the Ball is thrown in, which is called backing up. 1836New Sporting Mag. Oct. 360 By backing up too far, he ran himself out. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 369 It is necessary to turn the rim beforehand a little in the opposite direction..an operation called in technical language, the backing off. 1851L. Gordon Art Jrnl. Illust. Catal. vi. **/2 This operation of undoing the coil is called the backing-off. 1883Harper's Mag. Aug. 465/1 There's to be no backing down. 1960Times 14 Nov. 4/1 The age-old principle of backing-up..was once more the basic strength of the whole [Rugby football] team.
d. backing-out (see back v. 18). Also attrib.
1819Cartwright in Cobbett's Wkly. Pol. Reg. 22 May col. 1112 The Duke saw his reasons for what Mr. Cobbett calls ‘backing out’. 1841Knickerbocker XVII. 374 Nor would her offended dignity be appeased by the self-imposed immolations of backing-out. 1846S. Smith Theatr. Apprent. 149, I don't come from a backing out country—I must have a showing for the money that's down. 1880Tourgée Invis. Empire v. 413 In explanation of the backing-out process, he says it consisted simply in not going to any more meetings.
II. Collective appellation of that which backs, or forms a back, rear, or hinder part.
7. a. Support, succour; a body of supporters.
1818Scott Rob Roy viii, A quarter whence assuredly he expected no backing. 1880Times 11 Dec. 9 It is promoted by what appears to be a solid backing of landowners.
b. Musical or vocal accompaniment to a singer, esp. on a recording.
1940Swing Jan. 24/3 Everyone..seems happy in the rowdy backing, which gives plenty of punch to a good old barroom song. Ibid. June 17 The backing is based on a riff that's been used for several other numbers lately. 1959Punch 19 Aug. 60/2 Mr. B. finds the backing tedious and professes indifference to the singer's charms.
8. a. Anything used to form a back, or line the back.
1793Smeaton Edystone L. §221 Not only flat backing, but Purbeck ashler in rough courses, from those quarries. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Backing, the timber behind the armour-plates of a ship. 1880L. Higgin Handbk. Embroidery iv. 35 Silk, satin, or velvet..must be backed with a fine cotton or linen lining. The ‘backing’..is first framed. 1884F. M. Crawford Rom. Singer I. 219 A great pier-glass was cracked..and the metallic backing seemed to be scaling off. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 241 Backing, the base on which the magnetic oxide coating of tape is carried. 1963Which? Mar. 691 Carpets usually have a backing and a pile. The backing is woven, and consists of a set of warp threads (usually cotton) and a set of weft threads (usually jute). 1967E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage i. 20 (caption) Padded by slitting the backing and inserting cotton wool.
b. Photogr. (i) (See back v. 2 b); (ii) backing paper, a strip of opaque paper on which the celluloid film in a roll-film is mounted.
1937S. G. B. Stubbs Mod. Encycl. Photogr. I. 26/1 The beginning of the film, and the gummed paper holding it to the black side of the ‘backing-paper’ is clearly seen in the illustration. 1958M. L. Hall Newnes Complete Amat. Photogr. iv. 55, 35 mm. film is without a backing paper with numbers on it which can be viewed through a red window.
c. Scenery placed behind a door, window or other opening in a stage or film set.
1889in Cent. Dict. 1937N. Coward Pres. Indic. ii. 102 Backings and flats..waiting about untidily to be set in Act One. 1952W. Granville Dict. Theatr. Terms 20 Window backings are often part of the general back-cloth picture of the landscape.
9. = back n. 16.
1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 225 The Backing of a Hip is the angle made on its upper edge to range with the two sides or planes of the roof between which it is placed.
10. (dial.) Bank, embankment.
1863Lancashire Fents 3 A pretty weaver lass..seated herself on the ‘backing.’ 1865B. Brierley Irkdale I. 136 A younger person stands upon the garden ‘backing.’
11. backings: refuse of wool or flax, or what is left after dressing it; in the manufacture of flax, properly, the tow that is thrown off by the second hackling. (Jamieson.) Also in form backens Sc.
1780A. Young Tour in Ireland 101, 8 lb. flax for coarse linen; and 4 lb. of dressed tow, and some for backens. Ibid. 195 The remainder is called backings, and is spun into the coarsest stuff. 1783in Ann. Reg. 1783 (1785) 84/1 Cloth made from the refuse of Flax, and Backings of Tow. c1795Aberd. Statist. Acc. XIX. 207 (Jam.) The waft was spun by old women, and that only from backings or nails.
12. Sc. and U.S. (The act of writing) the address of a letter. Cf. back v. 12 b.
1833Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. II. 112/1 The same rule applies to the backing of the letter. 1871W. Alexander J. Gibb xiv. 104 It was not the mere writing that dismayed him, it was the composition..and the ‘backin’.
▪ II. backing, ppl. a.|ˈbækɪŋ|
[f. back v. + -ing2.]
That backs, or moves backward.
1862Thornbury Turner I. 268 In the foreground Turner has put a backing waggon with kicking horses. 1907Macmillan's Mag. July 671 A small sandy bay on the left bank, where a backing eddy ran. 1934J. E. Lilico Sheep Dog Memoirs 26 The finest backing dogs I have ever seen are in the saleyards at Addington. 1945Baker Austral. Lang. iii. 73 A dog trained to run across the backs of sheep when they are yarded is called a backing dog. 1966Melody Maker 23 July 10/4 The backing group on Nina Simone's recording of ‘Pastel Blues’.
▸ In a musical performance: designating a musician or singer who provides the backing to the principal singer or musicians; (also) designating the singing or (esp. prerecorded) music which provides this. Cf. backing n. 7b.
1964Times 2 Dec. 7/1 Adam Faith's backing group, The Roulettes. 1967New Musical Express 30 Sept. 11/2 We feel like we're cheating with backing tracks and maybe this comes over on the screen. The boys are musicians they want to show they can play. 1972Times 15 Jan. 9/6 The brass soars and plunges, the backing singers still burble delightful Motown words like ‘poop-poop-poop-poop’. 1988R. Doyle Commitments (1991) 34 The three backing vocalists, The Commitmentettes, listened to The Supremes,..and the The Shangri-las. 1992Vibe Fall 31/2 Imagine the diabolical Biz Markie..with '70s funksters Mandrill for a backing band. 2001Big Issue 27 Dec. 19/3 He would no doubt have been delighted by his old bandmates adding some backing vocals and putting it out as the first ‘new’ Beatles Song since 1970. |