back of

Idioms  

1. Also, at the back of; in back of. Behind; also, supporting. For example, The special brands were stored back of the counter, or “Franklin stood back of me in everything I wanted to do” (Eleanor Roosevelt, quoted by Catherine Drinker Bowen, Atlantic Monthly, March 1970). The first term, dating from the late 1600s, was long criticized as an undesirable colloquialism but today is generally considered acceptable. The variants, at the back of, from about 1400, and in back of, from the early 1900s, also can be used both literally and figuratively and could be substituted for back of in either example. Also see back of beyond.

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Example Sentences

Oracle’s shares have surged higher in recent weeks on the back of “strong investor appetite to be long compute names,” Wood wrote.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 9, 2026

I watch his friends embrace from a bench at the back of the crowd.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026

Maraga, dressed in the colours of his United Green Movement party, can be seen being helped into the back of a lorry as people around him shout: "Long live the park."

From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026

Manufacturing orders dropped—the first decline since January—reversing some of the gains in March that came on the back of stock building after the outbreak of the war in Iran.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 8, 2026

She rummages around in her handbag, which is hanging off the back of her chair.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

Related Words

• backward