[f. BACK a.] Wild, uncleared forest-land; e.g., that of North America.
1834. Chambers’ Jrnl., III. 40. Your widely-circulated Journal having even reached these backwoods.
1859. Merivale, Rom. Emp. (1865), IV. xxxix. 389. The latest conquests of Rome annexed the backwoods of Gaul.
b. attrib. Also backwood.
1822. J. Flint, Lett. Amer., 207. His live-stock soon becomes much more numerous than that of his back-wood predecessor.
1863. Pilgrimage over Prairies, II. 107. Enjoying ourselves in the approved backwoods fashion.
