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Glite Dictionary
😲 By surprise ⛵ Wind against sails
aback

aback

9.9
With sails pushed by wind against their front side so the ship slows or stops
  • adverb
  • /əˈbæk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : con las velas al viento de proa
  • When the winds shifted, the sails went aback, bringing the vessel to a halt.

Examples

  • The sails were aback, slowing the ship as it faced the strong headwind.

  • With a distant jangle of rigging, the big ship turned upwind, sails aback, as if to Kittiwake's unfamiliar smell.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • "Initially taken aback by her candor, Jed suddenly broke into a laugh.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The captain noticed the sails were aback, which indicated they needed to adjust their course.

Antonyms

full sail
1 5.6

To work as fast and as hard as possible

Surface Forms

aback positive

Morphology

aback = back (semi-transparent) = a + back

The form is clearly 'a-' + 'back' and the spatial/physical sense (sails pushed toward the back) is derivable, but the meaning is specialized nautical vocabulary.

Etymology

Aback comes from the old parts a- (meaning 'on') and back (meaning 'back'), and sailors used it for a sail with the wind on its front so the sail was pushed 'back' and the ship slowed.