back and fill

Idioms  

1. Vacillate, be undecided, as in This measure will never be passed if the town meeting continues to back and fill. This term comes from sailing ships, where it signifies alternately backing and filling the sails, a method used when the wind is running against a ship in a narrow channel. The sail is hauled back against the wind and braced so that the tide or current carries the ship forward against the wind. Then the sail must be swung around and filled, to keep the ship on course. The term's figurative use for indecisiveness dates from the mid-1800s.

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Example Sentences

“I had to go all the way back and fill it back in.”

From Seattle Times

It’s getting harder to go back and fill in the holes if kids are not learning the material.”

From Seattle Times

She added that she is grappling with how MOCA’s collection can “tell the narrative differently” and, given glaring omissions, “Do we look back and fill in?”

From New York Times

"If you provide the early retirement option, but then you need to go back and fill that same role with another person and pay their salary. You're not saving money," he said.

From Fox News

If you hung pictures on the wall, go back and fill in the holes left by nails.

From Washington Post