Meanings
plural backbiters
- A person who says nasty things about another person behind the second person's back: that is, out of their sight and hearing.
She better not hear none of them old backbiters talking about her husband!
1937, Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Virago Press (2018), page 1431 more example
[…] here were no Gibers, Cenſurers, Backbiters, Pick-pockets, Highwaymen, Houſebreakers, Attorneys, Bawds, Buffoons, Gameſters, Politicians, Wits, ſplenetick tedious Talkers, Controvertiſts, Raviſhers, Murderers, Robbers, Virtuoſo's; […]
1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Oeconomy and Happy Life among the Houyhnhnms. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page 301
Synonyms & antonyms
nounone who attacks the reputation of another by slander or libel
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishbakbitere
- Englishbackbiter
From Middle English bakbitere, bakbytere, bacbitere, equivalent to backbite + -er.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
backbiter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/backbiter
“backbiter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/backbiter. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “backbiter,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/backbiter.
Source: backbiter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.