back out

present singular third person backs out · participle present backing out · participle past backed out · past backed out

1. transitiveTo reverse (a vehicle) from a confined space.

   He backed out of the garage.

   2 more examples

   A dirt road ran from the highway past the dump, down to a small Negro settlement some five hundred yards beyond the Ewells‘. It was necessary either to back out to the highway or go the full length of the road and turn around; most people turned around in the Negroes’ front yards.

   1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC

   Colleen watched from their window as Shaylene backed her mother’s silver 1981 Chevrolet Malibu out of the driveway and headed to Pick-N-Save grocery store, where she also worked.

   2026 August 6, Nicholas Muhoro, “An Ohio Teen Vanished During a One-Mile Drive in 1994. Her Locked Car Was Found Hours Later”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2026

2. intransitiveTo withdraw from something one has agreed to do.

   She backed out of organizing the fund-raising.

   2 more examples

   The girl threw back her head and laughed merrily. "You poor young man," she cried; "put that way it does sound alarming." Then she grew serious again. "There's plenty of time for you to back out now if you like. Just call the waiter, and ask for my bill. We'll say good-bye, and the incident will finish."

   1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, chapter 1, in Bulldog Drummond

   In the same year, 1844, negotiations were begun to strengthen the North Union's position by an amalgamation with the Liverpool & Manchester and Grand Junction companies, but at the eleventh hour the shareholders took exception to the rather overbearing ways of the Grand Junction, and backed out.

   1960 February 28, M. D. Greville and G. O. Holt, “Railway Development in Preston—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 100

3. transitiveTo convince (someone) to withdraw from a challenge.

   1 more example

   "I can back you out." "How? Doin' what?" they asked. "Crossing the canal on the pole." "Shucks, you can't back me out," declared one of the boys, at which he darted across the swaying pole, and with a jump, landed safely across. Another boy went at it gingerly, and with the antics of a tight-rope walker, he managed to get to the other side. […] "All right, Carlia," shouted the boys on the other bank. […] Carlia placed her foot on the pole as if testing it. The other girls protested. She would fall in and drown. "You dared us; now who's the coward," cried the boys.

   1921, Nephi Anderson, chapter 1, in Dorian

4. gamblingTo bet on someone losing.

   See also: sell short

   1 more example

   1921, Henry Luttrell, Crockford's : Or Life in the West Sketch No. III Whatever you throw is your chance. I called five for the main, which is the out chance, and threw seven to it, which is the in chance. If I throw five first, I lose, and if seven I win. You can back me in by betting the odds, or you can back me out, by taking the odds, the bank answers either way.

5. transitivecomputingTo undo (a change).

   I had to back out the changes made to the computer when it became apparent that they had stopped it working properly.

6. intransitivecomputingTo exit a mode or function.

   I chose that menu option by accident, so I pressed Escape to back out.

7. Multicultural London EnglishtransitiveTo draw from behind the back (a knife etc.) (as also bare back).

   Anything 4 get bun, back it out see the paigons run Can't believe that my door got spun, I just got nicked for a loaded gun

   2018 September 13, YB (9th Street), “Don’t Make Sense”, 2:06–2:11