Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Sports A swimming stroke performed on one's back, especially one using alternating overarm strokes and a flutter kick.
- n. Sports A race or a leg of a race in which this stroke is swum.
- n. A backhanded stroke or motion.
- n. A stroke or motion in the direction of an original starting point: a saw that cuts on the backstroke.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A blow or stroke in return.
- n. A backhanded stroke; a back-hander.
- n. In telegraphy, the return-stroke of the lever in a telegraph-sounder.
- n. Diastolic impulse of the heart, a faint beat occurring as the blood enters the ventricles.
Wiktionary
- n. A swimming stroke swum lying on one's back, while rotating both arms through the water as to propel the swimmer backwards.
- n. The pull on the tail of the rope that swings the bell through a full circle (compare handstroke)
- v. To swim the backstroke.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. a swimming stroke that resembles the crawl except the swimmer lies on his or her back. It is usually executed with backward-moving circular arm strokes and a flutter kick.
WordNet 3.0
- v. swim on one's back
- n. a swimming stroke that resembles the crawl except the swimmer lies on his or her back
Etymologies
- back + stroke (Wiktionary)
Examples
“It's a good confidence booster to know that the backstroke is there," Phelps said.”
“In each, Ogawa deploys an precise style that maintains an eerie distance between the narrator and event, her words clinical and charged with meaning, always leading with a slow build that concludes with a twist – although backstroke is probably more apt.”
“The performances churned chatter about the Spitz standard, and Thorpe fed it by testing himself in backstroke and IM events.”
“Lenny Krayzelburg, the American who holds the world record of 24.99 in the 50 backstroke, is recovering from shoulder surgery and is not competing.”
USATODAY.com - Crocker sets world record in 100-meter butterfly
“I trusted she knew what she was doing even when she weaved between the couples doing what I could only call the backstroke, but out of water.”
“The backstroke is my best stroke, but the 100-yard isn't my best event," said Dempsey, who also finished 10th in the 200 individual medley (in 1: 58.53) at state this year.”
“His time of 1 minute, 1.52 seconds in the backstroke was a state qualifying mark.”
“Wyomissing sophomore Katie Duggan is eighth in the 100 backstroke, which is where she finished last year.”
“Her time in the backstroke was a new state-qualifying mark.”
“Then it swings back in the opposite direction as the ringer pulls the tail-end of the rope towards the floor (the "backstroke").”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘backstroke’.
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back phrases/hyphens/compounds
backache to backyard
back-ache, back-aching, back-acter, back-acting, back-answer, back-bar, back-basket, back beat, back-bias, back-blast, back-blowing, back-boiler and 342 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Genes
Interesting gene names. Some of these may have changed recently (to something less offensive/funny).
http://www.genenames.org/
tinman, agnostic, dreadlocks, Van Gogh, fruitless, lava lamp, ariadne, cheap date, ken and barbie, I'm not dead yet, I'm not dead yet 2, manic fringe and 1192 more... -
Five Consecutive Consonants
A list of words containing five consecutive consonants
I do not include words containing "y" as part of the 5-letter string, since that letter invariably functions as a vowel, as in rhythm. <...heartstricken, heartstruck, wellspring, offspring, yachtsman, worthwhile, backstretch, backstroke, downstream, downstroke, breaststroke, birthstone and 188 more...
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Consecutive Consonants
borscht, worthwhile, bronkhurstspruit, latchstring, hirschsprung's di..., backstroke, birthplace, birthstone, breaststroke, corkscrew, downstream, erstwhile and 26 more...
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EN - rare verbs
fornicate, enfranchise, tweet, natter, fetter, devil, cork, bunker, canoe, backstroke, carom, queer and 52 more...
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swim strokes and accompanying parts
tranation, crawl, trudgen, freestyle, sidestroke, frog kick, butterfly, australian crawl, dog paddle, breaststroke, " ' " ' " ' ", scissor kick and 12 more...
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My Little Ponies
A list of My Little Pony names from the original (G1) collection. 1982-1992
cotton candy, butterscotch, blossom, blue belle, minty, snuzzle, seashell, bubbles, bow tie, applejack, sunbeam, medley and 352 more...
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Umbersorrow
Intangible, anthropic.
States of being are listed on oofy.njiju, glark, deplore, afterlithe, tagmass, spuriosity, forkful, chelation, oding, ploat, botnet, quedeship and 477 more...
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Tuesday words
just the next words that come along
nasality, transignification, lapsarian, disciple, slanguage, atwitter, avast, ahoy, asleep, awake, hymnody, glissade and 573 more...
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merfee's Words
supple, dichotomy, relish, rhapsody, pneumonoultramicr..., embrace, ishmael, ebullient, recalcitrant, elegy, char, lugubrious and 522 more...
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Front and Back
backchat, backbone, backpack, backhoe, backfire, backhanded, breakfront, beachfront, drawback, effrontery, frontier, switchback and 196 more...
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B is for Blue Canary
My B Words
bugbear, bette davis eyes, backstroke, barney, babushka, babycakes, backscratcher, bad news bears, balderdash, ballyhoo, baloney, bamboozle and 150 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for backstroke.
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