back vs the

back

adv
  • In a reciprocal manner; in return. 

  • 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. 

  • 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. 

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. 

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. 

the

adv
  • With a comparative, and often with for it, indicates a result more like said comparative. This can be negated with none. 

  • With a comparative or with more and a verb phrase, establishes a correlation with one or more other such comparatives. 

article
  • Introducing a singular term to be taken generically: preceding a name of something standing for a whole class. 

  • Used before an adjective, indicating all things (especially persons) described by that adjective. 

  • Used to indicate a certain example of (a noun) which is usually of most concern or most common or familiar. 

  • Added to a superlative or an ordinal number to make it into a substantive. 

  • Used before a body part (especially of someone previously mentioned), as an alternative to a possessive pronoun. 

  • When stressed, indicates that it describes an object which is considered to be best or exclusively worthy of attention. 

  • Definite grammatical article that implies necessarily that an entity it hints at is presupposed; something already mentioned, or completely specified later in that same sentence, or assumed already completely specified. 

  • Used before an object considered to be unique, or of which there is only one at a time. 

  • Used before a noun modified by a restrictive relative clause, indicating that the noun refers to a single referent defined by the relative clause. 

  • Used before a superlative or an ordinal number modifying a noun, to indicate that the noun refers to a single item. 

prep
  • For each; per. 

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