Contextualizebeta

backtalk

noun
/ˈbæk.tɔːk/UK/ˈbæk.tɔk/US

Etymology

From back + talk.

  1. derived from *dol-✻
  2. derived from *talōną✻ — “to count, recount, tell”
  3. inherited from *talkōną✻ — “to talk, chatter”
  4. inherited from *talkōn✻
  5. inherited from *tealcian✻ — “to talk, chat”
  6. inherited from talken
  7. compounded as backtalk — “back + talk”

Definitions

  1. Verbal impudence or argumentative discourse, given in response.

    • Don't give me any backtalk; just go clean your room.
    • He scratched his head. "Well, damn me," said he. "I never thought I would take orders from a Chink, but he says 'hist!' and by crums you've got to hist and no back talk either."
    • "Squalled at me that she owned the business and that she wouldn't take any back talk from me and that the piece wasn't for sale. What could I do?"

  2. To respond to in an aggressively disputatious, often sarcastic or insolent manner.

    • Peter was sent to detention for backtalking the teacher.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for backtalk. 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