back number
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noun
an out-of-date issue of a serial publication.
Informal. anything out-of-date.
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On the farm, the feed for chicks is significantly different from the roosters’; ______ not even comparable.
Origin of back number
An Americanism dating back to 1805–15
Words nearby back number
back molding, backmost, back-mutate, back mutation, back nine, back number, back o' beyond, back o' Bourke, back of, back of beyond, back of Bourke
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
Example sentences from the Web for back number
British Dictionary definitions for back number
back number
noun
an issue of a newspaper, magazine, etc, that appeared on a previous date
informal a person or thing considered to be old-fashioned
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
Idioms and Phrases with back number
back number
Dated, out of style. For example, That hat is really a back number, or The game has changed so fast that a player who returns to the circuit after several years' absence usually finds he or she is a back number. This term originally referred to back issues of periodicals, which are no longer newsworthy. [Late 1800s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.