aback of

alternative Geordie abacka

1. BritishEnglishUSdialectalBehind; on the other side of

   The question of wind must be matter of inference from the incidents above stated: the movement of the “Lawrence” and “Queen Charlotte,” and the bracing aback of the “Niagara's” topsail.

   1905, Alfred Thayer Mahan, Sea Power and the War of 1812, volume 2, page 68

   1 more example

   […] to effect which they must beat to windward for several days, between the west end of Cuba and the south coast of East Florida, till they get as far to the eastward as the Pan of Matanzas, a mountain so called, just aback of the town of the same name, say thirty leagues to the east of the Havanna, opposite which the gulph stream turns to a due north direction, which had been before east, and runs three, four, and five knots an hour […]

   1831, George Hallam, Narrative of a Voyage from Montego Bay

   Synonyms: in back of