Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Back \Back\, v. i.
   1. To move or go backward; as, the horse refuses to back.

   2. (Naut.) To change from one quarter to another by a course
      opposite to that of the sun; -- used of the wind.

   3. (Sporting) To stand still behind another dog which has
      pointed; -- said of a dog. [Eng.]

   {To back and fill}, to manage the sails of a ship so that the
      wind strikes them alternately in front and behind, in
      order to keep the ship in the middle of a river or channel
      while the current or tide carries the vessel against the
      wind. Hence: (Fig.) To take opposite positions
      alternately; to assert and deny. [Colloq.]

   {To back out}, {To back down}, to retreat or withdraw from a
      promise, engagement, or contest; to recede. [Colloq.]

            Cleon at first . . . was willing to go; but, finding
            that he [Nicias] was in earnest, he tried to back
            out.                                  --Jowett
                                                  (Thucyd. )