Go back

Pronunciation varies by accent · noun

Meaning

(US, historical, sometimes derogatory) An emigrant heading west on the Oregon Trail who gave up and turned back to the east..

Definitions by Sense

1. (US, historical, sometimes derogatory) An emigrant heading west on the Oregon Trail who gave up and turned back to the east.
2. (beekeeping) A section of honeycomb that is unfinished and returned to the hive.

Example Sentences

Although no subsequent year matched this high percentage of returnees, disconsolate "gobacks" remained a permanent feature of the overland emigrations […]

How many turned around and headed for wherever they came from is not known, but these "gobacks" or "turnarounds," as many emigrants called them, often complained that there was either little or no grass for their animals or that there was too much cholera or that the Indian threat was too great.

There may be one or a dozen or perhaps a hundred or so of supers with partly filled sections, and these are all designated as "gobacks". They are either placed on top of other supers that are being built out from foundation, or upon colonies that seem to show a special aptitude for finishing up gobacks.

Bees will then work in the whole super evenly and leave no gobacks.

Synonyms for go back

Antonyms for go back

Related Words

Word Forms

• gobacks

Usage Notes

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