backwards

backwards
    adv 1: at or to or toward the back or rear; "he moved back";
           "tripped when he stepped backward"; "she looked rearward
           out the window of the car" [syn: {back}, {backward},
           {backwards}, {rearward}, {rearwards}] [ant: {forrad},
           {forrard}, {forward}, {forwards}, {frontward},
           {frontwards}]
    2: in a manner or order or direction the reverse of normal;
       "it's easy to get the `i' and the `e' backward in words like
       `seize' and `siege'"; "the child put her jersey on backward"
       [syn: {backward}, {backwards}]
    

Backward \Back"ward\, Backwards \Back"wards\, adv. [Back, adv. +
   -ward.]
   1. With the back in advance or foremost; as, to ride
      backward.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Toward the back; toward the rear; as, to throw the arms
      backward.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. On the back, or with the back downward.
      [1913 Webster]

            Thou wilt fall backward.              --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Toward, or in, past time or events; ago.
      [1913 Webster]

            Some reigns backward.                 --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. By way of reflection; reflexively. --Sir J. Davies.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. From a better to a worse state, as from honor to shame,
      from religion to sin.
      [1913 Webster]

            The work went backward.               --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   7. In a contrary or reverse manner, way, or direction;
      contrarily; as, to read backwards.
      [1913 Webster]

            We might have . . . beat them backward home. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]