Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense piggybacks, present participle piggybacking, past tense, past participle piggybacked
1. countable noun
If you give someone a piggyback, you carry them high on your back, supporting them under their knees.
They give each other piggy-back rides.
Piggyback is also an adverb.
My father carried me up the hill, piggyback.
2. verb
If you piggyback on something that someone else has thought of or done, you use it to your advantage.
I was just piggybacking on Stokes's idea. [VERB + on]
They are piggybacking onto developed technology. [V + onto]
[Also VERB]
piggyback in British English
(ˈpɪɡɪˌbæk) or pickaback
noun
1.
a ride on the back and shoulders of another person
2.
a system whereby a vehicle, aircraft, etc, is transported for part of its journey on another vehicle, such as a flat railway wagon, another aircraft, etc
adverb
3.
on the back and shoulders of another person
4.
on or as an addition to something else
adjective
5.
of or for a piggyback
a piggyback ride
piggyback lorry trains
6.
of or relating to a type of heart transplant in which the transplanted heart functions in conjunction with the patient's own heart
verb(transitive)
7.
to give (a person) a piggyback on one's back and shoulders
8.
to transport (one vehicle) on another
9. (intransitive; often foll byon)
to exploit an existing resource, system, or product
10. (transitive)
to attach to or mount on (an existing piece of equipment or system)
piggyback in American English
(ˈpɪgiˌbæk)
adverb
1.
on the shoulders or back
to carry a child piggyback
2.
by a piggyback transportation system
3.
so as to be fixed to, carried by, connected with, or dependent on something else
adjective
4.
on the shoulders or back
to give a child a piggyback ride
5.
of a transportation system in which truck trailers are carried on flatcars
6.
fixed to, carried by, connected with, or dependent on something else
a local piggyback tax on top of the state sales tax
verb transitive US
7.
to carry or transport piggyback
8.
to place on or upon something in piggyback fashion
piggyback a new tax on the current one
verb intransitive
9.
to be placed or held in piggyback fashion
Word origin
alt. of pickaback
Examples of 'piggyback' in a sentence
piggyback
My father put a blindfold round my eyes and carried me up the hill, piggyback.
Melville, Anne THE HARDIE INHERITANCE (2002)
Ground floor and blue prints then,' and then even more playfully, `or I could maybe give you a piggyback.
Sue Welfare FALLEN WOMEN (2002)
You want your department to piggyback on my detectives ' work and then you may or may not decide to share information with us.