back out

British  

verb

1. to withdraw (from an agreement, etc)

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back out Idioms  

1. Move or retreat backwards without turning; same as back away , def. 1.

2. Also, back out of something . Withdraw from a situation, or break an agreement or engagement. For example, After the announcement appeared in the papers, Mary found it doubly difficult to back out of her engagement to Todd . [Early 1800s] Also see go back on .

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Example Sentences

The jury instead found that certain of his public claims of problems in Twitter's user metrics, and that he was possibly backing out of the $44bn acquisition deal, were intentionally misleading.

From BBC

Dow Chemical flirted with ruin because it won a bidding war for a competitor in 2008 but was left billions short at closing time when a Kuwaiti state company backed out of a joint venture.

From The Wall Street Journal

After failing to reach him all day, I was convinced he was backing out of the deal.

From The Wall Street Journal

At this selfsame moment J.W. came awake and backed out of Lloyd’s lap, which was perfect.

From Literature

Renn came after him, backing out on hands and knees and dragging two hazelwood packs -one of them his own.

From Literature

Related Words

• back down
• cancel
• give up
• renege
• surrender