backsightn.
/ˈbakˈsʌɪt/ 1. In Surveying: a ‘sight’ or reading taken backwards, or towards the point of starting.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > earth sciences > geography > map-making > surveying > [noun] > an observation with a surveying instrument > taken backwards
backsight1847
1847 E. Cresy Encycl. Civil Engin. I. 802 Compound Levelling is..performed by taking back and forward sights.
1867 Marsh in N.Y. Nation 9 May 373 A backsight is a sight or reading taken backwards; that is, in a direction opposite to that in which the levelling party is proceeding.
1953 R. J. C. Atkinson Field Archaeol. (ed. 2) iii. 114 The reading to a turning-point from the previous level station is known as a foresight, and that from the next level station as a backsight.
2. The sight of a rifle nearer the stock.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > parts and fittings of firearms > [noun] > sight > types of
dispart1578
telescopic sight1674
plain sight1686
aim-frontlet1745
hausse1787
foresight1806
gloaming sight1817
night-sight1822
bead1831
leaf1832
backsight1847
globe sight1847
pendulum hausse1850
hindsight1851
tangent scale1859
tangent1861
tangent backsight1862
training pendulum1862
training level1863
peep sight1866
dispart-sight1867
notch sight1867
buck-horn1877
orthoptic1881
aperturea1884
pinball-sighta1884
dispart patch1884
sight bar1884
flap-sight1887
barley-corn1896
ring sight1901
riflescope1902
spotting scope1904
tangent sight1908
Aldis sight1918
wind-sight1923
scope sight1934
gyro-sight1942
1847 Infantry Man. (1854) 34 The foresight is aligned through the back sight with the object.
1851 R. Glisan in Jrnl. Army Life (1874) 59 A..very heavy and costly gun, with an elevating back sight for shooting at great distances.
1859 Regulations for Musketry Instr. Army 10 Firing without using the back-sight.
1860 All Year Round 1 Sept. 501 The back or elevating sight.
1880 Times 18 Oct. 4/3 In using the rifle a native rarely avails himself..of the backsight.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
<
n.1847