Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A reserve or substitute.
- n. Computer Science A copy of a program or file that is stored separately from the original.
- n. Support or backing.
- n. Music A background accompaniment, as for a performer.
- n. An overflow or accumulation caused by clogging or by a stoppage: a backup in the sink; a backup of traffic at the drawbridge.
- adj. Extra; standby: a backup pilot.
Wiktionary
- n. A reserve or substitute.
- n. computing A copy of a file or record, stored separately from the original, that can be used to recover the original if it is destroyed or damaged.
- n. An accumulation of material that halts the flow or movement of something.
- n. law enforcement reinforcements
- adj. standby, reserve or extra
- adj. computing That is intended as a backup.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. anything kept in reserve to serve as a substitute in case of failure or unavailability of the normal or primary object; -- used for devices, plans, people, etc. Also used attributively.
- n. (Music) a musician or group of musicians accompanying a soloist, whether vocalists or instrumentalists.
- n. a person or group of persons serving as reinforcement for another or others.
- n. an accumulation, overflow, or reverse flow (in traffic or a liquid flow system) caused by a stoppage or other malfunction.
- n. (Computers) A copy of a program or data from a computer onto a data-storage medium, usually one that may be removed to safe storage at a distance from the computer; it is used to preserve data for use in the contingency that the original data on the computer may be lost or become unusable. A backup that is removed from the building housing the computer system (to provide protection against loss of data in a disastrous event such as a fire) is called off-site backup. Also used attributively.
- n. (Computers) The act or process of creating a backup{5}.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a musical part (vocal or instrumental) that supports or provides background for other musical parts
- n. an accumulation caused by clogging or a stoppage
- n. (computer science) a copy of a file or directory on a separate storage device
- n. the act of providing approval and support
- n. someone who takes the place of another (as when things get dangerous or difficult)
Etymologies
- back + up (Wiktionary)
Examples
“For example, if you put the backup and restore scripts in a folder called h: \backup and your run the backup script, it will create a folder called h: \backup\tweedeckbackup and copy into it all your TweetDeck settings.”
“He said the Rangers have talked about him going to Triple-A Oklahoma City, which he calls a backup plan.”
“Time machine vs backup is kinda not of an equivilent I think.”
Win 7 Vs Mac OS X Leopard: Feature-by-Feature Showdown | Lifehacker Australia
“Truth in backup: Even as I read all the postings on this thread, I had a chapter that did not have a single backup.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » A New Book Coming Soon from Michael Bellesiles
“March 21st, 2010 at 11: 52 am gummitch -- this space for rent says: backup is back!”
“Now we just get the slogans from them. backup is a special case.”
“Substantial backup is rarely available and they often operate in small teams deep in enemy territory.”
Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » How to Do Training Scenes
“This prevents sleep while backing up and then enables it again when the backup is complete (see our Earth Day blog post for more info). tririver”
“QB Kale Pick, last year's backup, is the other top candidate.”
“Having Twitter on as a backup is natural, as there will be a great deal of chatter there as well.”
Global Voices in English » Africa: Obama uses new media to talk to Africans
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘backup’.
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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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webdev
random webdev lingo used primarily in computer programming.
( open list, randomness, technical jargon, geek speak )
more:
ajax, user, admin, frontend, backend, database, sql, protocol, call, dom, layout, ui and 439 more... -
cricket
everything cricket
backlift, bail, batsman, batsmen, batswoman, batswomen, beamer, blockhole, bodyline, bosie, bouncer, boundary and 471 more...
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compounding error
compounds that should be severed when used as verbs, but which retain basically the same meaning as verbs or nouns (e.g. an "inset" is something that got set in, but an "upswell" is no longer the n...
logout, input (note: need..., putdown, crackdown, inset (note: reve..., takeoff, drawdown, backup, liftoff, sendoff, castoff, login and 3 more...
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Computers changed everything
Words that were well established before they gained special use in computing systems.
server, protocol, interface, bug, spam, virus, mouse, program, hack, chip, drive, window and 61 more...
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Insurance Data-Related words
claimant, delete, register, invoice, spreadsheet, alert, electronic, cartridge, password, dashboard, certificate, presentation and 90 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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the hotlist
short, sweet, epic, catchy, sassy, sexy & sizzling.
( personal list, randomness )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/...zing, epic, win, fail, hot, warp, times, clip, onyx, wonky, pwn, leet and 1493 more...
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TN9 Lesson 106
careless, burner, catch on fire, lizard, crawl, nightmare, kick, dummy, Picasso, report, copy, backup and 7 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for backup.
ramsler a 'backup' in computer science also refers to making a copy of a user's entire hard drive. "Fortunately, I made a backup last night before the crash." Jun 27, 2009