Emily Dickinson Lexicon

back, adv. [see back, n.] (webplay: action, actor, advancing, affairs, again, anchor, arms, backward, behind, beings, best, better, body, book, bringing, came, care, “come back”, concave, contempt, convex, dark, dealers, deals, disappointed, “driven or turned backward”, end, face, fall, forgive, former, “former ages”, forward, give, “give back”, hand, hill, home, house, human, inner, keep, keep toward, lay, large, learner, leave, man, manner, mind, motion, natural, nearest, “opposite to the face”, “out of sight”, past, peace, place, public, put, quick, recede, refuses, remote, return, sails, seamanship, season, secret, side, slow, small, speaker, spring, thick, thickest, things, throw, times, toward, turn, “turn the back”, wiser, weighing, whole, wood).

1. In a direction behind.
2. Folded down upon itself.
3. Away; in a direction away from.
4. In response.
5. In the past.
6. Delayed in time.
7. Returning; so as to return; in reverse.
8. In remembrance; in retrospect.
9. Previously.
10. Before; returning in time.
11. Phrase. “lay … back”: restore; return to place.
12. Phrase. “Take back”: withdraw; renounce; disavow.