different between back vs nuchal

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /bæk/, [bæk], [bak], [-k?], [-?k]
• (Scouse) IPA^(key): [bax]
• Rhymes: -æk
• Hyphenation: back

Etymology 1

From Middle English bak, from Old English bæc, from Proto-West Germanic *bak, from Proto-Germanic *bak?, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *b?ogo (literally “bending”). The adverb represents an aphetic form of aback.

Compare Middle Low German bak (“back”), from Old Saxon bak, and West Frisian bekling (“chair back”), Old High German bah, Swedish and Norwegian bak. Cognate with German Bache (“sow [adult female hog]”).

Adjective

back (not generally comparable, comparative more back, superlative most back)

1. At or near the rear.

2. Not current.

3. Situated away from the main or most frequented areas.

4. In arrears; overdue.

5. Moving or operating backward.

7. (comparable, phonetics) Pronounced with the highest part of the body of the tongue toward the back of the mouth, near the soft palate (most often describing a vowel).

Usage notes

In linguistic use describing the position of the tongue, the comparative backer and superlative backest are usual; these may also be occasionally found for other senses, especially informally.

Synonyms

• (near the rear): rear
• (not current): former, previous

Antonyms

• (near the rear, phonetics): front
• (not current): current
• (away from the main area): main (of roads)

Translations

See also

• back vowel

Adverb

back (comparative further back, superlative furthest back)

1. (not comparable) To or in a previous condition or place.

2. In a direction opposite to that in which someone or something is facing or normally pointing.

   Someone pushed me in the chest and I fell back.

   The grandfather clock toppled back and crashed to the ground.

   Her arm was bent back at an odd angle.

3. In a direction opposite to the usual or desired direction of movement or progress, physically or figuratively.

4. So as to reverse direction and return.

   The light bounces back off the mirror.

5. Towards, into or in the past.

6. Away from someone or something; at a distance.

   Keep back! It could explode at any moment!

7. Away from the front or from an edge.
8. So as shrink, recede or move aside, or cause to do so.

   This tree is dying back.

   Clear back all this vegetation.

   Draw back the curtains and let in some light.

9. In a manner that impedes.

10. (not comparable) In a reciprocal manner; in return.

11. (postpositive) Earlier, ago.

12. To a later point in time. See also put back.

Translations

Postposition

back

1. Before now, ago
   • Woods, John (1822) Two Years' Residence in the Settlement on the English Prairie, in the Illinois Country, United States (in English), page 138: “Our road was chiefly through woods, and part of it lay through the Hurricane-track, that is where a strong wind, some years back, opened a passage through the woods for a mile in breadth...”

Noun

back (plural backs)

1. The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.
   1. The spine and associated tissues.

   2. (slang, uncountable) Large and attractive buttocks.
   3. (figuratively) The part of a piece of clothing which covers the back.

   4. The backrest, the part of a piece of furniture which receives the human back.

   5. (obsolete) That part of the body that bears clothing. (Now used only in the phrase clothes on one's back.)
2. That which is farthest away from the front.
   1. The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side.
      1. The edge of a book which is bound.

      2. (printing) The inside margin of a page.
      3. The side of a blade opposite the side used for cutting.

   2. The reverse side; the side that is not normally seen.

   3. Area behind, such as the backyard of a house.

   4. The part of something that goes last.

   5. (sports) In some team sports, a position behind most players on the team.
3. (figuratively) Upper part of a natural object which is considered to resemble an animal's back.

4. A support or resource in reserve.
5. (nautical) The keel and keelson of a ship.

6. (mining) The roof of a horizontal underground passage.
7. (slang, uncountable) Effort, usually physical.

8. A non-alcoholic drink (often water or a soft drink), to go with hard liquor or a cocktail.

9. Among leather dealers, one of the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
   • 1848, Maine Supreme Judicial Court, Maine Reports (volume 6, page 397)

     […] as delivered by a tanner the average weight of a back and two strips would be about 42 pounds […].

Synonyms

• (side opposite the visible side): reverse
• (rear of the body): dorsum

Hyponyms

• (lower rear of the body): See Thesaurus:buttocks

Antonyms

• (side opposite the front or useful side): front
• (that which is farthest away from the front): front

Coordinate terms

• (non-alcoholic drink): chaser

Derived terms

• abackward
• ass backward
• have someone's back

Related terms

• bacon

Translations

Verb

back (third-person singular simple present backs, present participle backing, simple past and past participle backed)

1. (intransitive) To go in the reverse direction.
2. (transitive) To support.
3. (nautical, of the wind) To change direction contrary to the normal pattern; that is, to shift anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere, or clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
4. (nautical, of a square sail) To brace the yards so that the wind presses on the front of the sail, to slow the ship.
5. (nautical, of an anchor) To lay out a second, smaller anchor to provide additional holding power.
6. (Britain, of a hunting dog) To stand still behind another dog which has pointed.
7. (transitive) To push or force backwards.

8. (transitive, obsolete) To get upon the back of; to mount.
9. (transitive, obsolete) To place or seat upon the back.
10. To make a back for; to furnish with a back.

11. To adjoin behind; to be at the back of.
    • 1877, Thomas Henry Huxley, Physiography: An Introduction to the Study of Nature

      the chalk cliffs which back the beach

    • So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

12. To write upon the back of, possibly as an endorsement.

13. (law, of a justice of the peace) To sign or endorse (a warrant, issued in another county, to apprehend an offender).
14. To row backward with (oars).

Antonyms

• (nautical: of the wind): veer

Translations

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French bac.

Noun

back (plural backs)

1. A large shallow vat; a cistern, tub, or trough, used by brewers, distillers, dyers, picklers, gluemakers, and others, for mixing or cooling wort, holding water, hot glue, etc.
2. A ferryboat.

Translations

Czech

Alternative forms

• bek

Etymology

Borrowed from English back.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?k]
• Rhymes: -?k
• Homophone: beg

Noun

back m anim

1. (sports, obsolete) back

Declension

Synonyms

• obránce
• zadák

Antonyms

• úto?ník
• forward

Noun

back m inan

1. (sports, rare) defense

Declension

Synonyms

• obrana

Antonyms

• útok

Further reading

• back in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• back in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

French

Etymology

From English back

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bak/
• Homophone: bac

Adverb

back

1. (Louisiana, Cajun French, Acadian) back

   Dis trois je vous salue Marie, et je veux point te voir icitte back à voler du plywood. — “Say three hail Maries, and I don't want to see you back here stealing plywood.”

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bak/
• Rhymes: -ak

Verb

back

1. singular imperative of backen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of backen

Middle English

Noun

back

1. Alternative form of bak (“back”)

Swedish

Etymology

From English back

Pronunciation

Noun

back c

1. crate; storage of bottles
2. back; position behind most players on the team
3. reverse; car gear

Declension

English

Etymology

From nucha, from Medieval Latin, from Arabic ??????? (nu???, “spinal cord”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?nu.k?l/, /?nju.k?l/

Noun

nuchal (plural nuchals)

1. The back of the neck.
2. (medicine, colloquial) Short for nuchal translucency scan.
3. (zoology) A neck scale, especially of a lizard.
   • 1935, The Kansas University Science Bulletin, Volume 23, page 105,

     Dunn gives a key to a part of this group of Eumeces, based upon the number of nuchals, placing the two American species (he does not consider Eumeces altamirani Dugès) in a group having 14-17 pairs of nuchals; […] .

   • 2004, B.G. Kapoor, Bhavna Khanna, Ichthyology Handbook, page 248,

     Growth patterns of clavicles, cleithra, opercles, medial nuchals, dorsal scutes, and pectoral fin ray sections have been compared in white sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus.

   • 2004, Hans-Georg Horn, 6.19: Varanus salvadorii, Eric R. Pianka, Dennis R. King, Ruth Allen King (editors), Varanoid Lizards of the World, Indiana University Press, page 236,

     Scales are weakly differentiated, with head scales flat and smooth, nuchals small and smooth, dorsal scales small and keeled, and tail scales larger ventrally than laterally, without wings.

Synonyms

• (back of the neck): nape, nucha

Adjective

nuchal (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to the back or nape of the neck.
   • 2004, Vikram Dogra, Deborah J. Rubens, Ultrasound Secrets, Hanley & Belfus, page 58,

     What is the differential diagnosis of increased nuchal thickness? Although most fetuses with increased nuchal thickness are normal, the differential diagnosis of increased nuchal thickness includes an increased risk of fetal aneuploidy, particularly trisomy 21.

   • 2006, A. Antsaklis, Ultrasonographic soft markers for chromosomal abnormalities, Asim Kurjak, Frank A. Chervenak (editors), Textbook of Perinatal Medicine, 2nd Edition, Informa Healthcare, page 1192,

     Nuchal thickness was the first sonographic marker associated with an increased risk of trisomy 21 in the fetus and is now accepted as the single most sensitive and specific marker for the detection of DS in the second trimester, in high- and low-risk pregnancies.

   • 2006, David W. Frayer, Jan Jelinek, Martin Oliva, Milford H. Wolpoff, Chapter 9: Aurignacian male crania, jaws and teeth from the Mlade? Caves, Moravia, Czech Republic, Maria Teschler-Nicola (editor), Early Modern Humans at the Moravian Gate: The Mladec Caves and their Remains, Springer, page 220,

     Many particulars of the nuchal torus region and nuchal plane are preserved (see Caspari, 1991 for further details, our description replies heavily on Caspari's work).

Derived terms

• nuchal cord
• nuchal scan
• retronuchal

Translations

Anagrams

• chulan, launch