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back of
Idioms and Phrases
Also, at the back of ; in back of . Behind; also, supporting. For example, The special brands were stored back of the counter , or “Franklin stood back of me in everything I wanted to do” (Eleanor Roosevelt, quoted by Catherine Drinker Bowen, Atlantic Monthly , March 1970). The first term, dating from the late 1600s, was long criticized as an undesirable colloquialism but today is generally considered acceptable. The variants, at the back of , from about 1400, and in back of , from the early 1900s, also can be used both literally and figuratively and could be substituted for back of in either example. Also see back of beyond .Example Sentences
She shows me where the needle would be inserted into a vein in the back of my hand to allow an intravenous infusion of lethal drugs.
King is an experienced boater and knows his boat like “the back of his hand,” said Vince.
It was called The Batter Bowl and it had exactly one product: chocolate chip cookies, made from a recipe my mom had gradually adapted from the back of a Nestlé bittersweet chocolate chip bag.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly before spooning over your cake, just a tablespoon at a time, smoothing with the back of a spoon.
Jim Hewitt was taken to hospital covered in blood after he felt a "smack" on the back of his head while walking to the shop.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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