Library / English Dictionary

ABACK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

By surprise

Example:

taken aback by the caustic remarks

Classified under:

Adverbs

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having the wind against the forward side of the sails

Example:

the ship came up into the wind with all yards aback

Classified under:

Adverbs

Credits

 Context examples: 

“Now, Watson, confess yourself utterly taken aback,” said he.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Her simple faith in the immediate future took me aback.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The seamen had hauled the foreyard aback during the rising, but now as we left them they brought it square again, and as there was a light wind from the north and east the barque began to draw slowly away from us.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At last, however, she fell right into the wind's eye, was taken dead aback, and stood there awhile helpless, with her sails shivering.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)