Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BACK'WARD, adv. [back and ward. See Ward.]

1. With the back in advance; as, to move backward.
2. Toward the back; as, to throw the arms backward; to move backward, and forward.
3. On the back, or with the back downward; as, to fall backward.
4. Toward past times or events; as, to look backward on the history of man.
5. By way of reflection; reflexively. – Davies.
6. From a better to a worse state; as, public affairs go backward.
7. In time past; as, let us look some ages backward.
8. Perversely; from a wrong end. I never yet saw man but she would spell him backward. – Shak.
9. Toward the beginning; in an order contrary to the natural order; as, to read backward.
10. In a scriptural sense, to go or turn backward, is to rebel, apostatize, or relapse into sin or idolatry. – Is. i.
11. Contrarily; in a contrary manner. – Swift. To be driven or turned backward, is to be defeated, or disappointed. – Ps. xl. To turn judgment backward, is to pervert justice and laws. – Is. lix.