back up vs delay

back up

verb
  • To undo one's actions. 

  • For the non-striker to take a few steps down the pitch, in preparation to taking a run, just as the bowler bowls the ball. 

  • To move backwards, especially for a vehicle to do so. 

  • To copy (data) so that it can be restored if the main copy is lost. 

  • For a fielder to position himself behind the wicket (relative to a team-mate who is throwing the ball at the wicket) so as to stop the ball, and prevent overthrows. 

  • To fill up because of a backlog. 

  • To halt the flow or movement of something. 

  • To provide support or the promise of support to. 

  • To reconsider one's thoughts. 

  • To move a vehicle backwards. 

  • Coordinate terms: back away, back off, stand back 

delay

verb
  • To retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time. 

  • To put off until a later time; to defer. 

noun
  • A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity. 

  • An audio effects unit that introduces a controlled delay. 

  • Synonym of promise (“object representing delayed result”) 

  • An amount of time provided on each move before one's clock starts to tick; a less common time control than increment. 

How often have the words back up and delay occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )