backwater

plural backwaters · alternative back water · alternative back-water

1. The water held back by a dam or other obstruction.

   […] The backwater separates the main line from Hinksey marshalling yards

   1956 May, “Beside a Thames Backwater”, in Railway Magazine, page unnumbered, frontispiece

2. figurativelyidiomaticusuallyA remote place: somewhere that remains unaffected by new events, progresses, ideas, etc; any field of endeavor that figuratively resembles such a place.

   an academic backwater

   5 more examples

   Near-synonyms: (place) jerkwater town, one-horse town, Podunk; see also Thesaurus:remote place

   Usually, however, this line, which once had a monopoly of all the traffic to Bournemouth, is a quiet backwater carrying a purely local traffic.

   1953 August, David R. Webb, “By Rail to Bournemouth”, in Railway Magazine, page 556

   It's a volume for those who delight in exploring the backwaters of nineteenth-century opera.

   1978, National Opera Association –, The Opera Journal, page 29

   Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

   1979 October 12, Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, London: Pan Books, →ISBN

   What was once the industrial heart of Uruguay is now a quiet riverside backwater where nothing much happens—the shops don't bother to open until midday and not at all if it's raining.

   2003 September 21, Tom Hall, “Sunset in a one-pie town”, in The Observer, →ISSN

   Synonyms: jerkwater town, one-horse town, Podunk, Isolated town, bump in the road, jerkwater, jerk-water, jerkwater town

3. A rowing stroke in which the oar is pushed forward to stop the boat; see back water
4. paper industryWater used in the papermaking process. Recycled to reduce usage of fresh water, and usually containing residual amounts of chemicals and fibres.

   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.

   1908, An Old Machineman, “Re Back-water Query.”, in The World's Paper Trade Review, page 14

   Synonyms: overflow

present singular third person backwaters · participle present backwatering · participle past backwatered · past backwatered · alternative back water · alternative back-water

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

1. A locality in the Armidale council area, north-eastern New South Wales, Australia.