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Glite Dictionary
😠 To react strongly 🐎 To stand up (animal)
to rear back

to rear back

1 7.5
Rise up on the hind legs, lifting the front of the body
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : rearing
  • When the horse reared back, its powerful legs lifted it off the ground in a display of strength.
  • reared back on its hind
  • deer reared back

Examples

  • As the predator approached, the deer instinctively reared back, preparing to evade any potential attack.

  • Bruiser hurtles toward Bramble, yelping and slobbering, rears back on his hind legs when his chain runs out.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The horse rears back on its hind legs.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Suddenly the animal's eyes widened in fright, and it reared back.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • It rears back, ready to pounce...

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The paper snapped in the breeze, and the colt snorted, rearing back and lunging in the other direction.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The frightened horse suddenly reared back, raising its front legs as it tried to escape the loud noise.

Synonyms

to rear
vsto rear back
28 4.9

To rise up on the back legs, often when frightened

is specific to animals suddenly raising the front onto the hind legs
to uprear
vsto rear back
  • Archaic
8.8

To rise up on the back legs, often suddenly

is the alternative phrasing for the same sudden animal lifting action

Antonyms

lower
102 1.0

Found under another thing, near the bottom

How High

to rear back
1 7.5
to rise
718 1.0
to lean back
66 2.2

Surface Forms

rear back infinitive
rearing back present participle
rears back third person singular
reared back past
reared back past participle

Morphology

rear + back

The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'rear' (to rise up on the hind legs) with 'back' (indicating a backward/directional movement or emphasis). The particle-like use of 'back' reinforces the motion and this verb + particle/directional pattern is common and predictable, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Rear back shows what a horse or other animal does when it suddenly lifts its front and moves backward; rear means to rise on the hind legs and back shows the backward motion. So it means 'to stand up on the hind legs'.