aback
(adverb) by surprise; “taken aback by the caustic remarks”
aback
(adverb) having the wind against the forward side of the sails; “the ship came up into the wind with all yards aback”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
aback (not comparable)
(archaic) Towards the back or rear; backwards. [First attested prior to 1150.]
(archaic) In the rear; a distance behind. [First attested prior to 1150.]
By surprise; startled; dumbfounded. (see usage)
(nautical) Backward against the mast; said of the sails when pressed by the wind from the "wrong" (forward) side, or of a ship when its sails are set that way. [First attested in the late 17th century.]
• (by surprise): Preceded by a form of the word take, see take aback.
aback (plural abacks)
(obsolete) An abacus.
Source: Wiktionary
A*back", adv. Etym: [Pref. a- + back; AS. on bæc at, on, or toward the back. See Back.]
1. Toward the back or rear; backward. "Therewith aback she started." Chaucer.
2. Behind; in the rear. Knolles.
3. (Naut.)
Definition: Backward against the mast;-said of the sails when pressed by the wind. Totten. To be taken aback. (a) To be driven backward against the mast; -- said of the sails, also of the ship when the sails are thus driven. (b) To be suddenly checked, baffled, or discomfited. Dickens.
Ab"ack, n.
Definition: An abacus. [Obs.] B. Jonson.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
25 April 2024
(verb) embody the essential characteristics of or be a typical example of; “The fugue typifies Bach’s style of composition”
The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.
