different between backset vs backslide

English

Etymology

back +? set

Noun

backset (plural backsets)

1. A check; a relapse; a discouragement; a setback.
2. Whatever is thrown back in its course, such as water.
   • Harper's Magazine

     Slackwater, or the backset caused by the overflow.

Verb

backset (third-person singular simple present backsets, present participle backsetting, simple past and past participle backset)

1. (US, especially Western US) To plow again in the fall; said of prairie land broken up in the spring.

Further reading

• backset in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• backest, backets, set back, setback

English

Etymology

back +? slide

Verb

backslide (third-person singular simple present backslides, present participle backsliding, simple past backslid or backslided, past participle backslidden or backslid or backslided)

1. To regress; to slip backwards or revert to a previous, worse state.
   • 1893, George Eliot, George Eliot's Works - Volume 7 - Page 233

     Monna Brigida, who had backslided into false hair in Romola's absence, but now drew it off again and declared she would not mind being gray, if her dear child would stay with her.

   He felt better for a little while, before his condition started to backslide.

2. To shirk responsibility; to renege on one's obligations or commitments.

   Rich countries are backsliding on their commitment to agree to new WTO measures to help people in poor countries gain access to affordable medicines. — Oxfam press release, 24 June 2002

Derived terms

• backslider
• backsliding (adjective, noun)

Translations

Noun

backslide (plural backslides)

1. A backward regression; a reverting back to a worse state.
2. A dance move in which the feet are alternately slid back and the heels lifted, giving the illusion of walking forwards while actually moving backwards; later popularly called the moonwalk.