backspace
Americanverb (used without object)
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to shift the carriage or typing element of a typewriter one space backward by depressing a special key.
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Computers. to move the cursor, printhead, etc., toward the beginning of the data.
noun
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the space made by backspacing.
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Also called backspacer,. Also called backspace key. the labeled key on a typewriter or computer keyboard used for backspacing.
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has backspacedperfect 3rd person singular
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have backspacedperfect
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have been backspacingperfect progressive
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has been backspacingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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is backspacingprogressive 3rd person singular
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am backspacingprogressive 1st person singular
-
are backspacingprogressive
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backspacingparticiple
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backspacessingular 3rd person
Past
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had backspacedperfect
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were backspacingprogressive plural
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was backspacingprogressive singular
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had been backspacingperfect progressive
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backspacedsimple
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backspacedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of backspace
Explanation
A backspace is a keyboard stroke that moves your cursor backwards. When you type the wrong word in an email, you can use the backspace to go back and change it. You can use the word backspace for the keyboard key itself, and also to mean "hit the backspace." If you're helping a friend edit an essay on her laptop, you might say, "Backspace to that first paragraph so I can read it again." The word's been around since the late 19th century, when it referred to typewriters — the backspace was the latest in new technology in 1899.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
