Meanings
plural back forties
- CanadaUSThe remote part of a farm.
They couldn't contact the farmer right away because he was out plowing the back forty
Antonyms: home forty
- CanadaUSidiomaticThe most remote or inaccessible part of any place.
Synonyms: See: Thesaurus:remote place
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe remote part of a farm.
nounThe most remote or inaccessible part of any place.
Origin
From back + forty, meaning “back side of a farm”. In the Homestead Acts (1860s–), farmers were granted a quarter section; a section was nominally 1 square mile containing 640 acres, a quarter section was 160 acres, and the quarter section was itself subdivided into four quarter-quarter sections of 40 acres each: two front forty and two back forty. Compare north forty, back of beyond, backcountry, and backwater.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
back forty. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/back%20forty
“back forty.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/back%20forty. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “back forty,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/back%20forty.
Source: back forty on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.