backfoot

verb

Etymology

From back + foot.

  1. inherited from *pṓds
  2. inherited from *fōts
  3. inherited from *fōt
  4. inherited from fōt
  5. inherited from fot
  6. compounded as backfoot — “back + foot

Definitions

  1. To put on the defensive

    To put on the defensive; to put off balance.

    • Hamlet is bitter, evasive, now backfooting them, now attacking, now genial - their job isn't going to be easy.
    • Koizumi's government has been backfooted by the indictment of Horie, the former CEO of Livedoor Co., on charges of violating securities regulations

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for backfoot. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA