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Back out   /bæk aʊt/   Listen
Back out

verb
1.
Move out of a space backwards.
2.
Make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity.  Synonyms: back away, crawfish, crawfish out, pull back, pull in one's horns, retreat, withdraw.  "He backed out of his earlier promise" , "The aggressive investment company pulled in its horns"






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Back out" Quotes from Famous Books



... siphon-piece of "compo" tubing at the top, to draw off the water when the tube has been filled by suction, and a small tap at the bottom. This tap, when not in use, should be held back out of the way by a wire hook attached to the lowest of the upper shelves. A piece of linoleum should be cut to fit the bath-shelf and protect the ...
— Things To Make • Archibald Williams

... of air and sky and freedom were stronger than all else. She was of an adventurous temper also, and brave like all Abruzzese, and she longed to see one of those moonlit midnight meetings of armed men to which she had escaped from Alaida's keeping, she could not have forced herself to go back out of this clear, cool, radiant night into the little, close, dark sleeping-chamber. No, not if Don Silverio himself had stood in her path with the cross raised. She was like a year-old lioness who ...
— The Waters of Edera • Louise de la Rame, a.k.a. Ouida

... sick for a home. Don't I belong here? Haven't I longed to get here all my life? Haven't I counted the months and the years till I should be able to 'go' as we say? And now that I've 'gone,' that is that I've come, must I just back out? No, no, I'll move on. I'm much obliged to you for your offer. I've enough money for the present. I've about my person some forty pounds' worth of British gold, and the same amount, say, of the toughness ...
— A Passionate Pilgrim • Henry James

... priest sounded to the guilty like the death-sentence of a judge. Before he had concluded, all, except Meehan and his brother, and a few who were really innocent, had slunk back out of the circle into the crowd. Denis, however, became pale as a corpse; and from time to time wiped the large drops from his haggard brow: even Anthony's cheek, despite of his natural callousness, was less red; his eyes became disturbed; ...
— The Hedge School; The Midnight Mass; The Donagh • William Carleton

... the door and thrust it so far open that his companion, who stood with cocked piece close at his side, would have had no difficulty in getting a shot at Tom if he had been on the inside. It was plain that they were afraid of the consequences, for as the door swung open they both drew back out of sight. If he knew anything of the prairie at all, it wasn't so certain that he was going to give up that bag after what he ...
— Elam Storm, The Wolfer - The Lost Nugget • Harry Castlemon

... Omaha, Nebraska.—This invention relates to a snow plow, for a locomotive engine, which takes up a load of snow, is then borne back out of the cut by the engine, and dumps its load when arrived ...
— Scientific American, Vol.22, No. 1, January 1, 1870 • Various

... things in this world, (and plaguy small springs we have here too,) and fairly lays down to it, jist as he gets his lips cleverly to it, for a swig, there is some cussed neck or another, of some confounded Britisher, pops right over him, and pins him there. He can't get up, he can't back out, and he can't drink, and he is blacked and blued in the face, and most ...
— The Attache - or, Sam Slick in England, Complete • Thomas Chandler Haliburton

... quickly. "Back out of it some way, and give me just this one evening to myself. Won't you ...
— The Honorable Senator Sage-Brush • Francis Lynde

... beginning something, and then beginning something else before you get all tired out and tangled up. Never say no until you are sure that what's been proposed isn't any good. Then back out!" ...
— We Three • Gouverneur Morris

... Prosper received his wife's reverence with a blush, sighed as he saw her back out of the presence, and sighed still more as he turned to his task of entertaining ...
— The Forest Lovers • Maurice Hewlett

... did not wish to sell it, but the captain teased and begged and finally the man sold it, and got many thousand dollars for it. When the captain had gotten the mill on his back, he did not stay there long, for he was afraid the man might reconsider the bargain and back out again. He had no time to ask how to regulate it; he went to his ship as fast as he could, and when he had gotten some distance out upon the sea, he got ...
— The Younger Edda - Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda • Snorre

... 'infants,'" spoke up Fred. "Except in the eyes of the law," he added. "We're able to do the job and there isn't any one of us that's trying to back out." ...
— The Go Ahead Boys and Simon's Mine • Ross Kay

... fancy herself once more with her lover sitting under the sweet-scented acanthus in the quiet night, and forget the sad reality of her present life. And when, with a deep sigh, she laid aside the lyre and came back out of this dream-kingdom, the tears were always to be seen in Kassandane's eyes, though she did not understand the language in which Sappho had been singing, and Atossa would bend down and ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... began, looking as if she wanted to back out. But I was too quick for her. I shut the door myself and, taking her by the arm, seated her ...
— That Affair Next Door • Anna Katharine Green

... it?" Philly demanded. Then she called to Laddie: "Push in farther, Laddie! Then maybe you can back out all right." ...
— Six Little Bunkers at Mammy June's • Laura Lee Hope

... man," said the elder Marvin, "whoever led you to believe that you could buy dresses for a girl like Polly at a hundred dollars? If you contemplate matrimony on any such deluded basis as that you had better back out now before it's too late. Isn't ...
— The Perils of Pauline • Charles Goddard

... was that the traces of the second team broke," Pottinger chimed in. "Judd had gone on ahead, and we hadn't any spare traces. So I sent that team back out of the way, followed the first gun, and brought the team back to take up the second gun. Damned good team that, E sub-section. You remember the team we were training for the 'Alarm Race' when we were out at St Saveur? That's the one.... And the ...
— Pushed and the Return Push • George Herbert Fosdike Nichols, (AKA Quex)

... narrowed, and Mary had to fall back out of hearing; but she had an unpleasant suspicion that Robson was telling her father something to Tom's disadvantage, and she had to consider how to avoid rousing a jealousy, which she ...
— Dynevor Terrace (Vol. II) • Charlotte M. Yonge

... the chowkidar pulled him back out of his Nirvana of non-existence, and he called ...
— Caste • W. A. Fraser

... blocked up a portion of the entrance, and had placed some stout sticks, sharply pointed, directed inwards, so that although the bear could squeeze through one way, he would find it a difficult task to back out again. ...
— With Axe and Rifle • W.H.G. Kingston

... tiny black ants scurried to and fro in the pinkish sand of the river beach. She waded into the now clear, sherry-pale water to cool her hot bare limbs, and, bending over, stared down into the reflected eyes that looked back out of ...
— The Dop Doctor • Clotilde Inez Mary Graves

... he looked over a hill he saw down below him a bear digging roots. Old Man thought he would have some fun with the bear, and he called out aloud, "He has no tail." Then he dodged back out of sight. The bear looked all about, but saw no one, and again began to dig roots. Then Old Man again peeped over the hill and saw the bear at work, and again called out, "He has no tail." This time the bear looked up more ...
— Blackfeet Indian Stories • George Bird Grinnell

... Cavalry charge that they heard the clash of the sabres, so close to the lip of the Valley of Death that they discerned the wounds of our stricken troopers who strewed its sward and could greet and be greeted by the broken groups that rode back out of the "mouth of hell," there was but one small body of people. This body consisted of the officers and men of "C" Troop, Royal Horse Artillery. "C" Troop had been encamped from 1st October until the morning of the battle close to the Light division, in that section of the British ...
— Camps, Quarters, and Casual Places • Archibald Forbes

... he might explain to me his plans, and asked me to do so as a favour. I represented to him my unskilfulness in all finance matters; that Law would in vain speak a language to me of which I understood nothing, that we should both lose our time very uselessly. I tried to back out thus, as well as I could. The Regent several times reverted to the charge, and at last demanded my submission. Law came then to my house. Though there was much of the foreigner in his bearing, in his expressions, and in his accent, ...
— The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, Complete • Duc de Saint-Simon

... and, being utterly dumfounded, after regaining himself, and not giving them the money, said, "Be off, then!" He had too much of the Southern chivalry to back out, and came away a wiser if not a better man, but said "nary word" about convincing ...
— Incidents of the War: Humorous, Pathetic, and Descriptive • Alf Burnett

... affirmed, drawing her stool back out of the increasing heat of the fire. Her face was almost entirely in shadow now, and she did not look at Philip. "I am beginning to—to love adventure," she went on, in an even voice. "It was an adventure coming up. And when we landed down there something curious happened. ...
— Flower of the North • James Oliver Curwood

... were thrown well forward in touch with those of the enemy, but the main lines were drawn back out of range, for the sake of a good night's sleep ...
— History of the Nineteenth Army Corps • Richard Biddle Irwin

... reverse, counter movement, counter march; veering, tergiversation, recidivation^, backsliding, fall; deterioration &c 659; recidivism, recidivity^. reversal, relapse, turning point &c (reversion) 145. V. recede, regrade, return, revert, retreat, retire; retrograde, retrocede; back out; back down; balk; crawfish [U.S.], crawl [Slang]; withdraw; rebound &c 277; go back, come back, turn back, hark back, draw back, fall back, get back, put back, run back; lose ground; fall astern, drop ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... drummer is the two-spot. Our American civilization should be called Drummer's Delight—and there's nothing in your fire-eater to delight a drummer: he's a gentleman, he'll be only so-so rich, and he's away back out of the lime-light, while poor old Charley's a bounder, and worth forty millions anyhow, and right in the centre of the glare. How should he see any danger ...
— Lady Baltimore • Owen Wister

... the best. He knew them. Circles of ten so that a fellow couldn't round on more than his own ring. Sinn Fein. Back out you get the knife. Hidden hand. Stay in. The firing squad. Turnkey's daughter got him out of Richmond, off from Lusk. Putting up in the Buckingham Palace hotel under their very ...
— Ulysses • James Joyce

... quite understand you," said Sir Griffin. "Look here, Lucinda; if you want to back out of ...
— The Eustace Diamonds • Anthony Trollope

... all that you say," conceded Kemp. "But after all, they do have a fairly stiff time of it on duty, and they are going to have a much stiffer time later on. And they are not going to back out when the romance of the new uniform wears off, remember. Now these girls will play the angel-of-mercy game for a week or two, and then jack up and confine their efforts to getting hold of a wounded ...
— The First Hundred Thousand • Ian Hay

... longer—I burst in on them. "For God Almighty's sake, gentlemen," I cried out, "don't fight without seconds!" My master turned on me, like the madman he was, and threatened me with the point of his sword. Mr. Varleigh pulled me back out of harm's way. "Don't be afraid," he whispered, as he led me back to the verge of the clearing; "I have chosen the sword instead of the pistol expressly to ...
— Little Novels • Wilkie Collins

... once more up to the propeller, the man gave it a pull, and quickly released it, jumping back out ...
— Air Service Boys in the Big Battle • Charles Amory Beach

... afraid you'd want to go through! But we can't do it, fellows, not this year at least. There's the school term we've got to think of. We're nearly three thousand miles from St. Louis. That means we'll have to choose between two or three weeks of the hardest kind of mountain work and back out when we've got nowhere, and taking a fast and simple trip to the true head of the Missouri. Which would you ...
— The Young Alaskans on the Missouri • Emerson Hough

... first rough water, when the waves began to lap aboard. They were small waves, but it was an earnest of what was to come. Shorty cast back a quizzical glance as he gnawed at his inevitable plug, and Kit felt a strange rush of warmth at his heart for this man who couldn't swim and who couldn't back out. ...
— Smoke Bellew • Jack London

... sideways and knelt to return his fire. At once Ashton gripped his rifle still more firmly and drew back the automatic lever. The crackling discharge was like the fire of a miniature Maxim gun. Puffs of dust spouted up all around the man on the ridge crest. He sprang to his feet and ran back out of sight, jumping from side to side like ...
— Out of the Depths - A Romance of Reclamation • Robert Ames Bennet

... much estate is to be inherited, and he calculates it. He thinks out how long it will be before the old man will die, and whether he can stand the refractory temper until he does die, and then he enters the relation; for he says, "If I cannot stand it, then through the divorce law I'll back out." That process is going on all the time, and men enter the relation without any moral principle, without any affection, and it is as much a matter of stock speculation as anything that transpired yesterday in Union Pacific, Wabash, and ...
— The Wedding Ring - A Series of Discourses for Husbands and Wives and Those - Contemplating Matrimony • T. De Witt Talmage

... missed the road and found himself at the bride's castle; where he learnt that her sister was just dead and the wedding postponed. As he passed in that evening through the abbey-gate, there was thankfulness in his heart that he was back out of the world and its ...
— The Age of Erasmus - Lectures Delivered in the Universities of Oxford and London • P. S. Allen

... those with which my hand had played; I kissed for the last time the lips that had so often counselled, pleaded, soothed, and never spoken a word that had better been left unsaid. Then, veiling face and form in the soft down, I called around me again the brethren who had fallen back out of sight of my last farewell, and gave the corpse into their charge. Turning with restless eagerness from the agony, which even the sudden shock that rendered me half insensible could not deaden into endurable pain, to the passion of revenge, ...
— Across the Zodiac • Percy Greg

... bitter grief, since I have suffered sorrows in my mind. The maid whom the sons of the Greeks selected as a reward for me, and [whom] I won by my spear, having sacked a well-fortified city, her has king Agamemnon, son of Atreus, taken back out of my hands, as from some dishonoured alien. But we shall allow these things to be among the things that were;[512] nor is it right, indeed, to be continually enraged in one's mind. Certainly I affirmed that I would not put a stop to my wrath, before that clamour and war ...
— The Iliad of Homer (1873) • Homer

... while she talked about all sorts of things. Then she fell silent for a little, still not looking at him. She got up and moved about the room, arranged two or three packages on the shelves, shut the damper of the stove, glancing at Marcel's back out of the corners of her eyes. Then she came back to her chair, pushed her cup aside, rested both elbows on the table and her chin in her hands, and looked Marcel square in the face with ...
— The Ruling Passion • Henry van Dyke

... She sprang back out of his reach, white as death. Instinctively she realized that she was in some terrible danger, and the knowledge ...
— The Green Rust • Edgar Wallace

... that served for air, and a savage, seeing the boys had forgotten to barricade it, tried to push himself through, an' not succeeding, tried to back out, but at that instant Bill caught him by the wrist—Bill was a powerful man—and picking up a beaver-trap that laid on the floor, actually beat his brains ...
— The Old Santa Fe Trail - The Story of a Great Highway • Henry Inman

... I went back out in de yard, en den I went 'cross ter de nigger-quarter, en I ain' gone fur tell I year my ole man prayin' in dar some'r's. I know 'im by he v'ice, suh, en he wuz prayin' des like it wuz camp-meetin' time. I hunt 'roun' fer 'im, suh, en bimeby I ...
— Free Joe and Other Georgian Sketches • Joel Chandler Harris

... a shot!" was Dave's thought, and as quietly as a mouse he fell back out of sight and then ran to where he had left his gun. The weapon was ready for use, and soon he was at the ...
— On the Trail of Pontiac • Edward Stratemeyer

... Silver-how, sent forth A noise of laughter; southern Loughrigg heard, And Fairfield answered with a mountain tone; 60 Helvellyn far into the clear blue sky Carried the Lady's voice,—old Skiddaw blew His speaking-trumpet;—back out of the clouds Of Glaramara southward came the voice; And Kirkstone tossed it from his misty head. 65 —Now whether (said I to our cordial Friend, Who in the hey-day of astonishment Smiled in my face) this were ...
— The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. II. • William Wordsworth

... and that they would consider the execution of the sentence of death which had been pronounced upon him to be a violation of international law, the Elector of Saxony, upon the advice of the Chamberlain, Sir Kunz himself, who wished to back out of the affair, summoned Prince Christiern of Meissen from his estate, and decided, after a few words with this sagacious nobleman, to surrender Kohlhaas to the Court of Berlin in accordance ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. IV • Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke

... almost seven months, and she had been rocked with morning sickness for the last three weeks before he left, moaning over her saltines and begging him not to go even though she knew he couldn't and would not back out. She was afraid of the unknown he was going into, and he was afraid of the unknown that awaited her—it was the first time for both unknowns for ...
— A Choice of Miracles • James A. Cox

... Young Men's C. A. of Iowa City, after having regularly engaged Miss OLIVE LOGAN in their lecture course, concluded to back out, the cabalistic letters seemed ...
— Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 14, July 2, 1870 • Various

... Hardy," he said, at last, "I'll not forget this, and I reckon the story won't help you any in our army. I'll get the Yank, second or no second, if the fellow doesn't back out." ...
— Love Under Fire • Randall Parrish

... you back out, then?" inquired Joe. The hounds now ran to the men, and the next moment a small animal, not larger than a rabbit, of a dark colour, with long white stripes from the nose to the tail, made its appearance, and moved slowly toward the spring. Sneak ran up the hill beyond the position ...
— Wild Western Scenes • John Beauchamp Jones

... them. Here's your two thousand. You can pay me back out of your winnings on the voyage. And never mind about your note or the assignment of an interest in your inheritance. If I cannot take my own son's word of honor I don't deserve a son. Just take care of yourself, Joey, because if anything should happen to you it ...
— Cappy Ricks Retires • Peter B. Kyne

... unhappy if I say I shall miss you and shall hate to be confined by the camp regulations. I'm not going to back out for father and cousin Walt have put it up to me to see the thing through and though I'm kind of used to disapointing father I don't intend that Walt shall ...
— At Plattsburg • Allen French

... cried Luigi, and Ugolone rising to his hind legs wearily began his clumsy dance. The children, meanwhile, shrank back out of sight ...
— The Italian Twins • Lucy Fitch Perkins

... glass, and stared out through it in silence for several minutes. Then he thrust it into a pocket and settled back out of ...
— Gordon Craig - Soldier of Fortune • Randall Parrish

... wished, and then Nanny bid me hold my head closer to her, while she whispered, "You must take the back out of the fireplace, and then pull out three bricks, and then put your hand into the hole, and you will find a small box; and there you will find a little money—a very little, Jack, hardly worth having, but still it may be of some use; and it's ...
— Poor Jack • Frederick Marryat

... where lay the Confederate general would mark the highest point attained by the crimson wave of Southern valor, for Union troops were concentrating in overwhelming numbers. The wound in my hand had broken out afresh. I hastened to get back out of the melee, the crush, and the 'sing' of bullets, and soon reached my old post of observation, exhausted and panting. The correspondents were still there, and one of them patted me on the shoulder in a way meant to be encouraging, and offered to put my name in his paper, an ...
— An Original Belle • E. P. Roe

... objection that they had to be written in ink, and if one's hand perspired, "and it was sure as hell to," nothing was left but an inky smear. Another held that a fellow could fasten a rubber band on his forearm and attach the notes to those, pulling them down when needed and then letting them snap back out of sight into safety. "But," one of the conspirators was sure to object, "what th' hell are you going to do if the band breaks?" Some of them insisted that notes placed in the inside of one's goloshes—all the students wore them but took ...
— The Plastic Age • Percy Marks

... touched each other, holding the tail on one side. In two or three seconds he lowered the wings a moment, then raised them again, while his tail leaned the other side. After half a dozen such feints he delivered a gentle peck, and instantly hopped back out of the way. Seeing that it did not move, he took it in his bill and flew to the floor, where he soon satisfied himself that it was not a new variety of beetle. This was always his method with any ...
— In Nesting Time • Olive Thorne Miller

... recovered my senses and strength from so sudden a surprise, I started back out of his reach where I stood to view him; he lay ...
— An English Grammar • W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell

... do not understand." Brother Warboise regarded Brother Copas from under his stiff grey eyebrows. "Why should Bonaday back out?" ...
— Brother Copas • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... "anties." They were anxious to learn the game—and they did learn it! Once in a while, indeed, seeing they had two aces and a bragger, they would venture a bet of five or ten dollars, but they were always compelled to back out before the tremendous bragging of the Captain or pilot—or if they did venture to "call out" on "two bullits and a bragger," they had the mortification to find one of the officers had the same kind of a hand, and were more venerable! Still, with all these disadvantages, ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume V. (of X.) • Various

... to again. They were admiring her, in her dress of the querulous old nurse, and told her how they never would have known her. But there was an insincerity in the effusion of some of the more nervous women, and in the reticence of the others, who were holding back out ...
— Annie Kilburn - A Novel • W. D. Howells

... give the alarm. Dodging out of the dining-room, I ran into the hall and swiftly up a long stairway and found the master And mistress sound asleep in a large room. I went up to the bed, gave the Bed clothes a quick tug, uttered a low cry and stepped back out of sight. The master jumped up exclaiming, "What was that?" At the same time he touched a button on the wall and flooded the house with light. He listened intently and hearing a noise downstairs rushed down. I followed ...
— The Nomad of the Nine Lives • A. Frances Friebe

... about them and a fine snow beginning to drift down, the place seemed to take on an uncanny atmosphere that, even though nothing worse could happen, would have a depressing effect on the girl. It was too late to back out, however. It would be hard to explain a sudden retreat to the girl, and there was no time to be lost in trying to get the information which he sought. Marsh glanced at his companion. She was looking around with evident interest, and he was glad to ...
— The Sheridan Road Mystery • Paul Thorne

... of you back out," Tom said. "Each of us will take two girls on his sled. There's ...
— Ruth Fielding at Snow Camp • Alice Emerson

... at first, but courage came with immunity from alarm. Six letters, that had been thrust through the slit by the evening postman, lay on the floor. To these the grey rat advanced, seized one in its teeth, and began to back out, dragging the letter after it. The brown rat followed the grey rat's example. While thus engaged, another brown rat appeared, and followed suit. Nothing could have been more fortunate. Mr Blurt was charmed. ...
— Post Haste • R.M. Ballantyne

... side, with a sharp suddenness that all but threw his back out of joint. The knife whizzed through the still air like a great hornet. The breath of its passage fanned Gavin's averted face, as he wrenched his head out of ...
— Black Caesar's Clan • Albert Payson Terhune

... case—why, I should be fighting a duel over a woman I don't care twopence about, and with a young jackass whom I could kick across the street! That is what I ought to have done!—why didn't I throw him down-stairs? But the mischief of it is that the thing is now inevitable; I can't back out? I declare I never was in such a quandary in my ...
— Prince Fortunatus • William Black

... geography. It's only the under part of the countries that he has to know about, and so they are marked out on the inside of the globe. What they want now is a special teacher, and after having come here, and had the Queen Dowager notified, it wouldn't do to back out, you know." ...
— St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. V, August, 1878, No 10. - Scribner's Illustrated • Various

... children—that is, I must have misunderstood him. There are only two. But the Matterhorn episode was simple enough. He didn't realize how dangerous it was until he had got so far into it that he couldn't back out; and he didn't tell her, because he'd left her here, you see, ...
— The Best American Humorous Short Stories • Various

... had the fellow said? Paul abruptly discovered that he was rattled, terribly rattled, and he turned back out of the place. He paused shortly, however, and took hold ...
— Laughing Bill Hyde and Other Stories • Rex Beach

... knock your head off. You can't back out of our s'ciety, an' if you ever say I tried to kill anybody I'll pound you till there won't be an ...
— Down the Slope • James Otis

... shown you the license and the ring, I guess you wouldn't have done it. You hadn't the nerve to back out of it then." ...
— The Land of Promise • D. Torbett

... accordingly and get your material and your spraying outfit and everything. I wouldn't trust to a one-year plan because they get "cold feet," as the saying is, after the first year, and perhaps they have not noticed any great advantage and they back out, but if they keep it up five years they wouldn't ...
— Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916 • Various

... taught, but intuitively understood by all, and invariably acted upon by the loyal and the true. The race is not nearly civilized, we must remember. Thus, not to follow your leader whithersoever he may think proper to lead; to back out of an expedition because the end of it frowns dubious, and the present fruit of it is discomfort; to quit a comrade on the road, and return home without him: these are tricks which no boy of spirit would be guilty ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... back out dere now, Bertha Lee, en settle your own scrap. Ain' you shame of yourself en you bigger den June, too? Go way from here, I say. I ain' got no time to monkey up wid you. I got to get dese collards boilin hard, else dey ain' gwine get done time you chillun ...
— Slave Narratives Vol. XIV. South Carolina, Part 1 • Various

... in danger bears himself gallantly, because the eyes of many will see him; whether as an old man he leads an army, or as a young man goes on a forlorn hope, or as a private carries his officer on his back out of the fire, he is sustained by the love of praise. And the men who are not individually prominent in danger, who stand their ground shoulder to shoulder, bear themselves gallantly also, each trusting in the combined strength of his comrades. When such combined courage has been acquired, ...
— Volume 2 • Anthony Trollope

... Most of the dishes were broken, but a few were only cracked; and I have given Silas Thomas's wife ten old wool dresses and a shawl and three old cloaks. All the other things which did not go into the bonfires went to the Aid Society. They will go back out West." Sally laughed, a girlish peal, and her husband joined. But suddenly her smooth forehead contracted. ...
— The Copy-Cat and Other Stories • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... knew quite well that it was all over with the Motor, that his friends at the College would find him some sort of employment, and that in due time he would succeed in working off his debt to the bank, dollar by dollar. He had got his soul back out of the claws of despair that had nearly flown away with it. There was no hope, but he could live without it because he must not only live himself, but keep his boy alive. Somehow, he would get along on credit for a week or two, till he could ...
— The Little City Of Hope - A Christmas Story • F. Marion Crawford

... though, too. Gospatrick and Marlesweyn are back out of Scotland. They attacked Robert de Comines [Footnote: Ancestor of the Comyns of Scotland.] at Durham, and burnt him in his own house. There was but one of his men got out of Durham to tell the news. And now they have marched on ...
— Hereward, The Last of the English • Charles Kingsley

... thing," said Jack hitching up his trousers; "but I was afeard as how he would back out, and that would be just the wrong thing for the admiral; ...
— Varney the Vampire - Or the Feast of Blood • Thomas Preskett Prest

... thought was deep enough to hide them. Here they dismounted and holding the lariats, watched as the thunder of the running herd increased, until they saw its van of lowered heads, short, curved horns and great, shaggy manes, and then the dark mass stretching back out ...
— The Great Sioux Trail - A Story of Mountain and Plain • Joseph Altsheler

... who would soon be her husband, but he was not there, and the hurrying people reminded her that she must hasten. Across the street a slouching figure in a baggy coat looked fixedly up and caught her glance. She trembled and drew back out of the sunshine, remembering what Dunham had told her about the Irishman of the night before. With a quick instinct, she drew down the shade, and ...
— The Mystery of Mary • Grace Livingston Hill

... out Sid, encouragingly, and wishing one of the workers might back out, so that he could find a chance to exercise his ...
— Fred Fenton on the Track - or, The Athletes of Riverport School • Allen Chapman

... of this oration with the left eye shut and screwed up, and the right one open. Having concluded, he shut and screwed up the right eye, and opened the left—he reversed the engine, so to speak, as if he wished to back out from the scene of his triumph, and leave the course clear for others to speak. But his words were thrown away on Mrs Bright, who was emphatically a weak-minded woman, and never exercised her reason at all, except in a spasmodic, galvanic sort of way, when she sought ...
— The World of Ice • R.M. Ballantyne

... which I had a good place, as I claimed rank with the Professors. A throne and canopy were erected at the top of the hall, but the Queen did not sit, which was her own determination, because if she had sat it would have been proper that everybody should back out before presenting the Address to the Prince: which operation would have suffocated at least 100 people. The Queen wore a blue gown and a brown shawl with an immense quantity of gold embroidery, and a bonnet. Then it was known that the Queen was going to service at King's ...
— Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy • George Biddell Airy

... to descend into hell. But the body lay in the tomb for a day and two nights, so as to demonstrate the truth of His death. Consequently, it is to be believed that His soul was in hell, in order that it might be brought back out of hell simultaneously with His body ...
— Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) - From the Complete American Edition • Thomas Aquinas

... affliction from traveling men. We go into their stores early or late, as suits ourselves; we expect their immediate attention, and we want to sell them or have a good reason for not doing it. I often walk back to a man's desk and find him intently at work over something; I would gladly back out if I could, and risk the coming in later at a more opportune time. But he has seen me, probably cusses to himself, hopes I am selling something he doesn't keep, so he can cut me off at once, and then takes my card or listens ...
— A Man of Samples • Wm. H. Maher

... So we are evidently both determined to stick to it. We shall have to toss, then, to settle which is to back out and give ...
— A Wodehouse Miscellany - Articles & Stories • P. G. Wodehouse

... more they passed the slopes and passages, while the mutes above watched them from their stones with marvelling eyes, till they reached the open space beyond, and there they loosed Eddo. The priest sprang back out of reach of the dreaded spears, and in a voice thick with ...
— The Ghost Kings • H. Rider Haggard

... herself upon the lad and bore him back out of sight. In his weakened condition he was no match for her. She thrust him back into the chair. He turned his eyes to the window. ...
— The Boy Allies with the Cossacks - Or, A Wild Dash over the Carpathians • Clair W. Hayes

... into this family, and is not merely being dragged into it, that he ought to see the worst at the start." She glired, without speaking. "You know," I continued, "it would be a dreadfull thing to have the Ceramony performed and everything to late to back out, and then have ME Sprung on him. It wouldn't be ...
— Bab: A Sub-Deb • Mary Roberts Rinehart

... said Casson, wheeling his horse and displaying the new chevrons of a sergeant. "Hey, you black offspring of a yellow whippet!" he bellowed to a driver, "back out there and be damn quick about it!" And he leaned from his saddle, and seizing the leaders by the head, swung them around with a volley of profanity. Then, grinning amiably at Berkley, he motioned the stretcher bearers forward and sat ...
— Ailsa Paige • Robert W. Chambers

... we can't. Still, I daresay it was such men as these who bred in us the grit to chase the whales in the Arctic, build our railroads through the snow-barred passes, and master the primeval forest. Now we'll try to forget them, and go back out of this creepy place ...
— Thurston of Orchard Valley • Harold Bindloss

... rush into anything now. She thinks her father's 'most too sanguine about the water, but she doesn't understand the machine—I could see that. She said she was afraid I'd lose something, and she wants me to back out right now. I'm sure I don't know what to do. I want ...
— The Wizard's Daughter and Other Stories • Margaret Collier Graham

... force to join in the final attack upon the Federals; but when the troops of Stuart and Lee moved forward they encountered no opposition. Hooker had begun to carry his troops across the river on the night he was hurled back out of Chancellorsville, and the rest of his troops had crossed ...
— With Lee in Virginia - A Story of the American Civil War • G. A. Henty

... man who wants to buy my paper," said DeGolyer, when they were seated at the table, "let me tell you that he is a most peculiar fellow, and if he finds that I am anxious to sell, he'll back out. Therefore I don't think ...
— The Colossus - A Novel • Opie Read

... had happened. We had been rudely jostled by an unseen ice floe while the eyes of the pilot had been occupied by the ones visible. Several times this happened. We were in the midst of a sea of ice floes. There was no visible egress ahead; we must back out, if possible, as ...
— A Woman who went to Alaska • May Kellogg Sullivan

... anchored in a large bay, where was a plant resembling sneezwort, which they found serviceable in the scurvy; also another plant, which rendered those who eat of it distracted for a time. They here fell in with two ships belonging to the fleet under Verhagen, which had been driven back out of the South Sea, one of which was commanded by Sebaldt de Weert, who told them he had been five months in the straits, and had only thirty-eight remaining out of 110 men, and not being able to bear up against the storms in the South Sea, ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume X • Robert Kerr

... absolutely convinced that Antwerp was impregnable, and as we had heard that large masses of English troops had been landed there, we hoped very much that this would be the turning-point of the war, and that the Germans might be driven back out of the country. ...
— Field Hospital and Flying Column - Being the Journal of an English Nursing Sister in Belgium & Russia • Violetta Thurstan

... pardon," drawled the stranger, and stared back out of a pair of handsome, sleepy eyes, "You—er—you expected to see Mr Vanburgh; I am sorry to say ...
— A Houseful of Girls • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... scoop his own winnings, including that last rich bet, off the table top and into his pocket. As for the rest of the coin, it slid with a noisy jangle to the floor, and it turned the other three men into scrambling madmen. They scratched and clawed at the money, cursing volubly, and Andy, stepping back out of the fracas, saw the scar-faced man watching with a smile of contempt. There was a snarl; Jeff had Joe by the throat, and Joe was reaching for his gun. Henry moved forward to interfere once more, but this time he was not needed. ...
— Way of the Lawless • Max Brand

... afterwards, and then the bearers began to be busy. There were far too few of them, and no one could find the ambulance carts. As a matter of fact they had not left Ladysmith—twelve miles at least away. Most of the wounded tried to creep back out of fire. Some lay quite still. I heard only two or three call out for help. Meantime the rest were keeping up a steady fire, not by volleys, but as each could sight a Boer among the rocks, and my own belief is that very few Boers ...
— Ladysmith - The Diary of a Siege • H. W. Nevinson

... has been assured long before by the tactics of Mr. Redmond, whose passion for justice, like Mr. Asquith's passion for popular government, is so curiously monosexual. The only discount from the Union's winnings is that it gave mendacious M.P.'s, anxious to back out of woman suffrage, a soft bed to ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 21 - The Recent Days (1910-1914) • Charles F. Horne, Editor

... on, there! Get back out o' that, you!" and jerked his ugly pistol at the old man's breast—for very aged this man seemed, bent and feeble and trembling as he leaned upon an iron staff—a voice spoke ...
— Darkness and Dawn • George Allan England

... but those fellows in British Columbia are making all sorts of threats that unless this railway is built forthwith they will back out of the Dominion, and some of them talk of annexation with the United States. Don't I wish I was there! What a lucky fellow Ranald is. Thorp says he's a big gun already. No end of a swell. Of course, as manager of a big concern like the British-American Coal and Lumber Company, ...
— The Man From Glengarry - A Tale Of The Ottawa • Ralph Connor

... that they were gone, he crept back out of the subterranean passage. "It is so dangerous to walk on the ground in the dark," said he; "how easily a neck or a leg is broken!" Fortunately he knocked against an empty snail-shell. "Thank God!" said he. "In ...
— Household Tales by Brothers Grimm • Grimm Brothers

... lit, on the edge of the whispering unknown, and a reiterated going back out of the solitude into the light and warmth, to the voices and glancing of eyes, to say good-bye:—that after all was this life on earth for those who watched as well as acted. What if one's earthly home were empty?—still the restless fretted traveller must ...
— The Return • Walter de la Mare

... day. It was discussed in the line; but everyone knew that no man could get across the ridge alive. While they were talking of it Little Darby, who, with a white face, had helped old Cove to get his boy's body back out of fire, slipped off to one side, rifle in hand, ...
— The Burial of the Guns • Thomas Nelson Page

... he whispered again. "Well," he said, "I want to do what you want me to and what is honorable. Of course, we are both young, and I haven't any money except what father gives me, but I am willing to quit school to-morrow and go to work. You needn't think I mean to back out and show the white feather. I am not that kind. We have got into this, and I am ready and willing to do all ...
— By the Light of the Soul - A Novel • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... Mealyus. This was done by the joint evidence of Mr. Meager and of the blacksmith. "And if I lose my key," said the reverend gentleman, "why should I not have another made? Did I ever deny it? This, I think, is very strange." But Mr. Emilius was very quickly walked back out of the Court between the two policemen, as his presence would not be required in regard to the further ...
— Phineas Redux • Anthony Trollope

... the great greenhouse and came to its entrance without meeting with anyone at all. A door stood ajar, so Hank went in first, thinking if there was any danger he could back out and warn his companion. But Betsy was close at his heels and the moment she entered was lost in amazement at the wonderful ...
— Tik-Tok of Oz • L. Frank Baum

... pushed her way into the mob and threw the rope off her husband's neck, and began to talk with vehemence in German. For a moment the drunken fellows hung back out of respect for a woman. Then Bill Day was suddenly impressed with the fact that the duty of persuading Mrs. Wehle to consent to her ...
— The End Of The World - A Love Story • Edward Eggleston

... twice again at the fleeing men, but with no more effect than to kick up the dust once behind and once ahead of them as they ran. The instant they reached the rocks where they found shelter Bucks drew back out of sight, and none too soon, for as he pulled himself away from the ledge, a rifle cracked viciously from below and the slug threw a chunk of granite almost up into his face; the fat man was evidently ...
— The Mountain Divide • Frank H. Spearman

... other way is there?" she inquired naively. "You allowed me only twenty-four hours, and I WON'T back out!" ...
— In Secret • Robert W. Chambers

... "spying" and then betrayed. Yet, in a way his treason, so far, had been unavoidable. He had promised—had even OFFERED to teach the Graham girl the "side stroke." He had not meant to make such an offer or promise, but Fate had tricked him into it, and he could not, as a gentleman, back out altogether. He had been compelled to give her one lesson. But he need not give her another. He need not meet her again. He would not. He would keep the agreement with Seth and forget the tenants of the bungalow altogether. Good old Atkins! Good old Seth, the woman-hater! How true he was to his ...
— The Woman-Haters • Joseph C. Lincoln

... It is much better to pass out than to back out. Pictures show many awkward methods of exit. In some there are too many chances to leave; in others there are none. Pictures in which there is no opportunity for visual peripatetics require no such provision. In the portrait we confront a ...
— Pictorial Composition and the Critical Judgment of Pictures • Henry Rankin Poore

... do your business without me. Take this written acknowledgment I have penned for you, and give my grand-daughter her father's letter to read—it would touch a heart of stone—touched mine—wish I could drag the mother back out of her grave, to do her justice—all one now. You see at last I'm not a suspicious rascal, however, for I don't suspect you of palming a false grand-daughter ...
— The Absentee • Maria Edgeworth



Words linked to "Back out" :   draw back, move back, recede, back, retire, pull away, crawfish, retreat



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