| 释义 |
back-track, v. orig. and chiefly U.S.
[f. prec.]
1. intr. To return; to retrace one's steps. Also fig., to go back on, withdraw. Hence back-tracker, one who returns.
1904E. Robins Magnetic North ii. 164 Now I'd advise you..to back-track home. 1946Nat. Geogr. Mag. Jan. 1/2 A small group of placer miners, many of them backtrackers from the California boom, had been gaining slender winnings in the gravel beds. 1947Time 6 Oct. 25/2 During the week he had to back-track on three statements. 1953Here & Now (N.Z.) III. x. 28/2 A Western marshal who has to stand alone..after the townspeople he has served back⁓track out of their responsibilities. 1955‘J. Wyndham’ Chrysalids viii. 92 Uncle Axel backtracked a bit. ‘There's no reason at all why anyone should find out.’ 1959Listener 12 Feb. 292/3 They had to compromise, back-track, evade, as well as leap forward. 1966Amer. Speech XLI. 167 Before taking up this matter, let us back-track to the state of the knowledge of German in New England. 1967Spectator 29 Dec. 804/1, I hope..that President Johnson heeds the voice of the turtle in the land and begins backtracking in Vietnam.
2. trans. To pursue or trace; to investigate.
1925E. E. T. Seton Lives of Game Animals I. 521, I started out across the fields and ‘backtracked’ the man. 1928Nat. Geogr. Mag. July 104 Lewis back-tracked the original route up the Missouri. 1942W. Faulkner Go Down, Moses v. 151 Too dark by that time to back-track her. 1954M. F. Rodell Mystery Fiction xv. 108 Backtracking the dress, he discovered that it had been bought before and returned. |