back vs front

back

adj
  • Pronounced with the highest part of the body of the tongue toward the back of the mouth, near the soft palate (most often describing a vowel). 

  • Not current. 

  • Situated away from the main or most frequented areas. 

  • At or near the rear. 

  • Returned or restored to a previous place or condition. 

  • Moving or operating backward. 

  • In arrears; overdue. 

verb
  • To go in the reverse direction. 

  • To lay out a second, smaller anchor to provide additional holding power. 

  • To push or force backwards. 

  • To adjoin behind; to be at the back of. 

  • To support. 

  • To stand still behind another dog which has pointed. 

  • To brace the yards so that the wind presses on the front of the sail, to slow the ship. 

  • To change direction contrary to the normal pattern; that is, to shift anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere, or clockwise in the southern hemisphere. 

  • To make a back for; to furnish with a back. 

  • To write upon the back of, possibly as an endorsement. 

  • To sign or endorse (a warrant, issued in another county, to apprehend an offender). 

  • To draw from behind the back [+accusative = a knife etc.] (as also back out). 

  • To row backward with (oars). 

  • To carry an infant on one's back. 

adv
  • In a direction opposite to the usual or desired direction of movement or progress, physically or figuratively. 

  • So as to reverse direction and return. 

  • Away from someone or something; at a distance. 

  • Away from the front or from an edge. 

  • In a manner that impedes. 

  • In a reciprocal manner; in return. 

  • So as shrink, recede or move aside, or cause to do so. 

  • To a later point in time. See also put back. 

  • Towards, into or in the past. 

  • To or in a previous condition or place. 

  • Earlier, ago. 

  • In a direction opposite to that in which someone or something is facing or normally pointing. 

noun
  • Effort, usually physical. 

  • The reverse side; the side that is not normally seen. 

  • The keel and keelson of a ship. 

  • A large shallow vat; a cistern, tub, or trough, used by brewers, distillers, dyers, picklers, gluemakers, and others, for mixing or cooling wort, holding water, hot glue, etc. 

  • The part of something that goes last. 

  • The spine and associated tissues. 

  • The backrest, the part of a piece of furniture which receives the human back. 

  • A ferryboat. 

  • The roof of a horizontal underground passage. 

  • Large and attractive buttocks. 

  • The inside margin of a page. 

  • The edge of a book which is bound. 

  • In some team sports, a position behind most players on the team. 

  • A support or resource in reserve. 

  • The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly. 

  • A non-alcoholic drink (often water or a soft drink), to go with hard liquor or a cocktail. 

  • Among leather dealers, one of the thickest and stoutest tanned hides. 

  • Area behind, such as the backyard of a house. 

  • The side of a blade opposite the side used for cutting. 

  • The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side. 

  • That which is farthest away from the front. 

  • The part of a piece of clothing which covers the back. 

  • Upper part of a natural object which is considered to resemble an animal's back. 

postp
  • Before now; ago. 

front

adj
  • Pronounced with the highest part of the body of the tongue toward the front of the mouth, near the hard palate (most often describing a vowel). 

  • Closest or nearest, of a set of futures contracts which expire at particular times, or of the times they expire; (typically, the front month or front year is the next calender month or year after the current one). 

  • Located at or near the front. 

verb
  • To face up to, to meet head-on, to confront. 

  • To provide money or financial assistance in advance to. 

  • To deceive or attempt to deceive someone with false or disingenuous appearances (on). 

  • To appear before. 

  • To move (a word or clause) to the start of a sentence (or series of adjectives, etc). 

  • To pronounce with the tongue in a front position. 

  • To adorn with, at the front; to put on the front. 

  • To assume false or disingenuous appearances. 

  • Of an alter in dissociative identity disorder: to be the currently actively presenting member of (a system), in control of the patient's body. 

  • To act as a front (for); to cover (for). 

  • To lead or be the spokesperson of (a campaign, organisation etc.). 

  • To face, be opposite to. 

noun
  • An area where armies are engaged in conflict, especially the line of contact. 

  • A major military subdivision of the Soviet Army. 

  • A grill (jewellery worn on front teeth). 

  • The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves. 

  • A seafront or coastal promenade. 

  • A person or institution acting as the public face of some other, covert group. 

  • The beginning. 

  • A field of activity. 

  • The lateral space occupied by an element measured from the extremity of one flank to the extremity of the other flank. 

  • An act, show, façade, persona: an intentional and false impression of oneself. 

  • The most conspicuous part. 

  • That which covers the foremost part of the head: a front piece of false hair worn by women. 

  • The side of a building with the main entrance. 

  • When a combat situation does not exist or is not assumed, the direction toward which the command is faced. 

  • The direction of the enemy. 

  • The interface or transition zone between two airmasses of different density, often resulting in precipitation. Since the temperature distribution is the most important regulator of atmospheric density, a front almost invariably separates airmasses of different temperature. 

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