wayback machine

noun

A time machine or other means of revisiting information from the past.

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Meanings

nounwayback machine (plural wayback machines)

plural wayback machines

  1. A time machine or other means of revisiting information from the past.

    So let's set the wayback machine to 2009 to show an example of what I was doing back then.

    2014, Michael Mowbray, Shoot to Thrill: Speedlight Flash Techniques for Photographers, →ISBN
    3 more examples

    I can't set Mr. Peabody's wayback machine to July 1, 1863, and take my entire class of fifth graders on a field trip to show them what the Battle of Gettysburg was like. I don't have a wayback machine.

    2008, Terry Thompson, Adventures in Graphica, →ISBN

    The star middle linebacker, who will go down in history as one of the Bears' best and most popular players, willingly jumped in the wayback machine and stopped it on a game during his second NFL season.

    2008, Lew Freedman, The 50 Greatest Plays in Chicago Bears Football History, →ISBN, page 42

    Reduced to its core, originalism promises that judges can ride a constitutional wayback machine, taking orders from the esteemed Founders.

    2014, Michael Waldman, The Second Amendment: A Biography, →ISBN, page 111

Origin

From the WABAC machine in the animated cartoon Mister Peabody, from way back (“long ago”). According to Gerard Baldwin, one of the show's directors, the spelling was a reference to the UNIVAC I computer.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

wayback machine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wayback%20machine

MLA

“wayback machine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wayback%20machine. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wayback machine,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wayback%20machine.

Source: wayback machine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.