runback

plural runbacks

1. American footballThe act of returning a kicked ball, such as from a punt or kickoff.

   A fifty yard runback of a punt by Jack Reed in the fourth period gave Bowdoin a 6-0 win over Williams today in a driving rain.

   1936 October 18, “Fifty Yard Runback of Punt Gives Bowdoin 6-0 Win Over Williams”, in Hartford Courant, archived from the original on 30 Jun 2013, page C4

2. A managed reduction of output in a power plant.
3. video gamesThe path taken to the location of a boss to fight it again after respawning.

   Maybe I’m just a bit of a masochist, but as Team Cherry continued to torment me with ill-placed benches and hostile runbacks, I started to respect that viciousness as a part of Silksong’s character.

   2026 January 28, Sean Martin, Harvey Randall, Evan Lahti, Fraser Brown, Shaun Prescott, Morgan Park, Robin Valentine, Andrea Shearon, Lauren Morton, Elie Gould, “Game of the Year”, in PC Gamer, number 417, via EBSCOhost, →ISSN, page 53