[f. BACK sb. or a.]

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  1.  A piece of armor protecting the back. Also fig.

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1586.  Lupton, Thous. Notable Th. (1675), 289. If you match the lady to Scotland, you are sure to have a stout Back-piece.

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1607.  Dekker, Wh. Babylon, Wks. 1873, II. 274. The hollow backe-peece of a rustie Armour.

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1865.  Parkman, Huguenots, ix. (1875), 150. Gourgues took the lead, in breast-plate and back-piece.

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  2.  The piece that forms the back of anything.

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1838.  Workwoman’s Guide, vi. 173. Making a slipper by merely sewing on a front to a sole, and leaving it without any back-piece.

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1851.  Art Jrnl. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 16/3. In the centre of the back-piece [of a side-board] is a medallion.

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