Wiktionary

backwater

See also: back-water and back water

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From back +‎ water.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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backwater (plural backwaters)

  1. The water held back by a dam or other obstruction.
  2. (idiomatic, usually figurative) A remote place: somewhere that remains unaffected by new events, progresses, ideas, etc; any field of endeavor that figuratively resembles such a place.
    Near-synonyms: (place) jerkwater town, one-horse town, Podunk; see also Thesaurus:remote place
    an academic backwater
    • 1953 August, David R. Webb, “By Rail to Bournemouth”, in Railway Magazine, page 556:
      Usually, however, this line, which once had a monopoly of all the traffic to Bournemouth, is a quiet backwater carrying a purely local traffic.
    • 1978, National Opera Association –, The Opera Journal, page 29:
      It's a volume for those who delight in exploring the backwaters of nineteenth-century opera.
    • 1979, Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
      Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.
    • 2014, Robert Kelly, Chung Wah Chow, Taiwan‎[2], 9th edition, Lonely Planet, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 224:
      In the 19th century silt deposits began to block the harbour, and the city began to decline. To make matters worse, conservative elements in Lukang refused in the early 20th century to allow trains and modern highways to be built near their city. Lukang became a backwater, only to be reborn decades later when modern Taiwanese began to search for a living connection with the past.
    • 2024 May 1, Tom Ingall, “Hope springs eternal for better services”, in RAIL, number 1008, page 53:
      The Hope Valley, while scenic, is no quiet backwater. There's no sign it will ever be one either.
  3. A rowing stroke in which the oar is pushed forward to stop the boat; see back water
  4. (paper industry) Water used in the papermaking process. Recycled to reduce usage of fresh water, and usually containing residual amounts of chemicals and fibres.[1]
    Synonym: overflow
    • 1908, An Old Machineman, “Re Back-water Query.”, in The World's Paper Trade Review‎[3], page 14:
      The back-water (overflow) can be used for "thinning down" the chests when emptying. If "Wastive" does this, his mind will be at ease regarding waste of pulp, and his machine-men will be happy and do their work much better than by trying to use all the back-water on the paper machine.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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backwater (third-person singular simple present backwaters, present participle backwatering, simple past and past participle backwatered)

  1. To row or paddle a backwater stroke.
  2. (idiomatic) To vacillate on a long-held position.

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ Paper Industry Technical Association ((Can we date this quote?)) “Backwater”, in Glossary of Papermaking Terms‎[1]:
    BACKWATER
    Water used in the papermaking process, recycled to reduce the wastage of fresh water, and normally contains residual amounts of fibres and chemicals.
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