backstroke

English

the backstroke

Etymology

From back +‎ stroke.

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈbækˌstɹoʊk/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

backstroke (plural backstrokes)

  2. A backhanded stroke or blow.
    • 1755, Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Tobias Smollett, Don Quixote, Volume 1, I.1:
      He observed that Cid Ruy-dias was an excellent knight; but not equal to the Lord of the Flaming-sword, who with one back-stroke [translating revés] had cut two fierce and monstrous giants through the middle.
  3. (swimming) A stroke swum lying on one's back, while rotating both arms through the water as to propel the swimmer backwards.
    Hypernym: stroke
    Coordinate terms: breaststroke, sidestroke, butterfly stroke
    Near-synonym: back crawl
  4. (bellringing) The pull on the tail of the rope that swings the bell through a full circle.
    Coordinate term: handstroke

Derived terms

(backhanded stroke or blow):

Translations

Verb

backstroke (third-person singular simple present backstrokes, present participle backstroking, simple past and past participle backstroked)

  1. (transitive) To hit with a backstroke.
  2. (swimming, intransitive) To swim the backstroke.

Translations

See also

Further reading

This page is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.