Through vs Back - What's the difference?
through | back |
From one side of an opening to the other.
:
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
, page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Entering, then later leaving.
:
*
*:Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging.He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.
*
*:Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Surrounded by (while moving).
:
*, chapter=1
, title= *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=76, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= By means of.
:
*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 28, author=Tom Rostance, title=Arsenal 2-1 Olympiakos
, work=BBC Sport *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (lb) To (or up to) and including, with all intermediate values.
:
Passing from one side of an object to the other.
:
Finished; complete.
:
Valueless; without a future.
:
No longer interested.
:
*
*:“I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.
*1977 , Iggy Pop,
*:I'm worth a million in prizes / Yeah, I'm through with sleeping on the sidewalk / No more beating my brains / No more beating my brains / With the liquor and drugs / With the liquor and drugs
Proceeding from origin to destination without delay due to change of equipment.
:
From one side to the other by way of the interior.
From one end to the other.
To the end.
Completely.
Out into the open.
(not comparable) Near the rear.
* , chapter=19
, title= (not comparable) Not current.
(not comparable) Far from the main area.
In arrear; overdue.
Moving or operating backward.
(comparable, phonetics) Produced in the back of the mouth.
(not comparable) To or in a previous condition or place.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2
, passage=We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=52, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Away from the front or from an edge.
* , chapter=1
, title= In a manner that impedes.
In a reciprocal manner.
The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.
:
*
*:It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by.
#The spine and associated tissues.
#:
# Large and attractive buttocks.
#*{{quote-book, 2002, (George Pelecanos), title=
, passage= He got his hand on her behind and caressed her firm, ample flesh.
#(lb) The part of a piece of clothing which covers the back.
#:
#The backrest, the part of a piece of furniture which receives the human back.
#:
#(lb) That part of the body that bears clothing.
#*{{quote-book, 1604, (William Shakespeare),
, passage=Do thou but think / What 'tis to cram a maw or clothe a back / From such a filthy vice}}
That which is farthest away from the front.
:
#The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side.
#:
##The edge of a book which is bound.
##:
##(lb) The inside margin of a page.
##*, page=472, edition=1965 Ayer Publishing ed., title=
, passage=Convenience and custom have familiarised us to the printed page being a little higher than the middle of the leaf, and to its having a little more margin at the fore edge than in the back .}}
##The side of a blade opposite the side used for cutting.
##:
#The reverse side; the side that is not normally seen.
#:
#Area behind, such as the backyard of a house.
#:
#The part of something that goes last.
#:
#(lb) In some team sports, a position behind most players on the team.
#:
#*{{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 28, author=Kevin Darlin, work=BBC
, title= (lb) Upper part of a natural object which is considered to resemble an animal's back.
:
A support or resource in reserve.
*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
*:This project / Should have a back or second, that might hold, / If this should blast in proof.
(lb) The keel and keelson of a ship.
:
(lb) The roof of a horizontal underground passage.
*{{quote-book, 1911, Robert Bruce Brinsmade, title=
, passage=The stope is kept full of broken ore, sufficient only being drawn to leave a working space between the floor of broken ore and the back of the stope.}}
Effort, usually physical.
:
A non-alcoholic drink (often water or a soft drink), to go with hard liquor or a cocktail.
:
Among leather dealers, one of the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
*1848 , Maine Supreme Judicial Court, Maine Reports (volume 6, page 397)
*:.
To go in the reverse direction.
* , chapter=1
, title= To support.
* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=June 9, author=Owen Phillips, work=BBC Sport
, title= (nautical, of the wind) To change direction contrary to the normal pattern; that is, to shift anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere, or clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
(nautical, of a square sail) To brace the yards so that the wind presses on the front of the sail, to slow the ship.
(nautical, of an anchor) To lay out a second, smaller anchor to provide additional holding power.
(UK, of a hunting dog) To stand still behind another dog which has pointed.
To push or force backwards.
(obsolete) To get upon the back of; to mount.
* (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
(obsolete) To place or seat upon the back.
* (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
To make a back for; to furnish with a back.
To adjoin behind; to be at the back of.
* (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
* (Thomas Henry Huxley) (1825-1895)
*
*:So this was my future home, I thought!Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
To write upon the back of, possibly as an endorsement.
(legal, of a justice of the peace) To sign or endorse (a warrant, issued in another county, to apprehend an offender).
To row backward with (oars).
A large shallow vat; a cistern, tub, or trough, used by brewers, distillers, dyers, picklers, gluemakers, and others, for mixing or cooling wort, holding water, hot glue, etc.
A ferryboat.
As nouns the difference between through and back
is that through is a large slab of stone laid on a tomb while back is a small stream or brook.As a preposition through
is from one side of an opening to the other.As an adjective through
is passing from one side of an object to the other.As an adverb through
is from one side to the other by way of the interior.through
English
Alternative forms
* thorow (obsolete) * thruEtymology 1
From (etyl) *. See also thorough.Preposition
(English prepositions)Ideas coming down the track, passage=A “moving platform” scheme
No hiding place, passage=In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%.}}
Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.}}
Snakes and ladders, passage=Risk is everywhere.
citation, passage=But the home side were ahead in the eighth minute through 18-year-old Oxlade-Chamberlain.}}
The attack of the MOOCs, passage=Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.}}
Derived terms
(terms derived using the preposition "through") * clear through * feedthrough * get through * go through * look through * right through * through and through * through with * throughput * throughwayAdjective
(-)Adverb
(-)- The arrow went straight through .
- Others slept; he worked straight through .
- She read the letter through .
- He said he would see it through .
- Leave the yarn in the dye overnight so the color soaks through .
- The American army broke through at St. Lo.
References
* Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Bounded landmarks", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition , Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8Etymology 2
From (etyl)back
English
(wikipedia back)Etymology 1
(etyl) bak, from (etyl) 'bending'. The adverb represents an aphetic form of (aback).Adjective
(en adjective)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.}}
- back rent
- back action
Synonyms
* (near the rear) rear * (not current) former, previous * (far from the main area) remoteAntonyms
* (near the rear) front * (not current) current * (far from the main area) mainAdverb
(further)The new masters and commanders, passage=From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.}}
Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path […]. It twisted and turned,
Noun
(en noun)Right as Rain: A Novel, isbn=0446610798, page=123
A Dictionary of the Art of Printing, isbn=0833731289
West Brom 1-3 Blackburn, passage=
Mining Without Timber, page=161
Synonyms
* (side opposite the visible side) reverse * (rear of the body) rear, backsideAntonyms
* (side opposite the front or useful side) front * (that which is farthest away from the front) frontCoordinate terms
* (non-alcoholic drink)Derived terms
* (non-alcoholic drink)Verb
(en verb)Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’
Euro 2012: Netherlands 0-1 Denmark, passage=And Netherlands, backed by a typically noisy and colourful travelling support, started the second period in blistering fashion and could have had four goals within 10 minutes}}
- to back oxen
- I will back him [a horse] straight.
- Great Jupiter, upon his eagle backed , / Appeared to me.
- to back books
- a gardenwith a vineyard backed
- the chalk cliffs which back the beach
- to back''' a letter; to '''back a note or legal document
- to back the oars