back (subs.) Copy link Outline I. Of an animal (including man)1. tergum2. dorsum (prop. referring to the ridge of the spine)II. The part of anything opposite to the frontIII. The more distant part of a place • back (subs.): I. Of an animal (including man): 1. tergum: to be punished on the back and head; i. e. to be scourged and beheaded, tergo ac capite puniri, Liv.: all the enemy turned their b.s, omnes hostes terga verterunt, Caes.: they had turned their b.s, terga dederant, Liv.: to bind a man's hands behind his b., hominis manus post tergum revincire, Virg.: the b.s of oxen, terga boum, Cic.: the god directed him not to concern himself about what was done at his back, i. e. behind him, deus illi praecepit quid a tergo fieret ne laboraret, Cic. 2. dorsum (prop. referring to the ridge of the spine): to fit one's shield to one's b., clipeum ad d. accommodare, Pl.: the horse shook not his rider from his b., nor the bit from his mouth, equus non equitem dorso, non frenum depulit ore, Hor.: v. ridge. Phr.: you are shameless, both front and b., et adversus et aversus impudicus es, Cic.: a wound in the b., caecum vulnus, Virg.; caecus ictus, Liv.: lying on my b., I gaze upon the sky, resupinus in coelo contueor, Att. ap. Cic.: Ov.: he snores, lying on his b., stertit supinus, Hor.: the boy lays hold of me behind by the robe, and throws me on my b., puer me pone apprehendit pallio, resupinat, Ter.: to malign any one behind his b., aliquem absentem rodere, Hor. II. The part of anything opposite to the front: tergum (rare): to write on the margin and b. of a book, margine libri scribere et in tergo, Juv. Phr.: he writes upon the b. of the paper, scribit in aversa charta, Mart.: the b. of the head, pars capitis aversa, Plin.: the b. of a house, postīcae aedium partes, Liv.: or simply, posticum, Vitr.: the b. of a couch, plŭtĕus, Suet. III. The more distant part of a place: āversum, or more freq. āversa, orum: the b. of a city, aversa urbis, Liv.: the b. of an island, a. insulae, Liv.