backblocks

American  

[bak-bloks] / ˈbækˌblɒks /

noun

(used with a plural verb)

1. the outback.

   They live in the backblocks.

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backblocks British  

/ ˈbækˌblɒks /

plural noun

1. bush or remote farming area far distant from city amenities

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Other Word Forms

• backblock adjective
• backblocker noun

Etymology

Origin of backblocks

First recorded in 1870–75; back ¹ + block + -s ³

Example Sentences

I meet Stone on a rehearsal break in the backblocks of Sydney’s Fox studios.

From The Guardian • Nov. 19, 2019

She began as Vickie Lynn Hogan, a peroxide-blond waitress from the dusty Texas backblocks.

From The Guardian • Jan. 2, 2011

Along the Ophir River, in the far "backblocks" of Queensland in the '80s, life bravely tried to illustrate Hobbes's definition of man's existence in a state of nature as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."

From Time Magazine Archive

Men come from up-country with a big cheque to knock out—shearers and men like that, who live in the backblocks for months, hundreds of miles from hotels.

From Captivity by Eyles, M. Leonora

"Are you going to live and die in the backblocks, David?"

From Back to Billabong by Bruce, Mary Grant