backsight

American

[bak-sahyt] / ˈbækˌsaɪt /

noun

Surveying.

a sight on a previously occupied instrument station.
(in leveling) the reading on a rod that is held on a point of known elevation, used in computing the elevation of the instrument.

backsight British

/ ˈbækˌsaɪt /

noun

the sight of a rifle nearer the stock
surveying a reading taken looking backwards to a previously occupied station Compare foresight

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of backsight

First recorded in 1840–50; back ² + sight

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023