backache

[bak-eyk]

noun

a pain, especially in the lumbar region of the back, usually caused by the strain of a muscle or ligament.

Origin of backache

First recorded in 1595–1605; back¹ + ache

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for back-ache

Historical Examples of back-ache

How could a back-ache over the pea-bed compensate for these felicities?
Humorous Masterpieces from American Literature
Various
She may soon suffer from, if she does not complain of, back-ache and other attendant troubles, the simple result of weakness.
The Education of American Girls
Anna Callender Brackett
Back-ache, the reader will allow, would take the poetry out of a honeymoon trip.
Romantic Spain
John Augustus O'Shea
There was an end of my back-ache when the rod and I could straighten ourselves and leave the men to tail out the fish.
Lines in Pleasant Places
William Senior
All across that lake I ate snow, and that and the back-ache legacy of an old strain are my signs of approaching exhaustion.
Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled
Hudson Stuck

British Dictionary definitions for back-ache

backache

noun

an ache or pain in one's back

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

Word Origin and History for back-ache

c.1600, from back (n.) + ache (n.).

back-ache in Medicine

backache

[băk′āk′]

Discomfort or a pain in the region of the back or spine.