"backscratch" meaning in All languages combined

See backscratch on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Audio: En-au-backscratch.ogg [Australia] Forms: backscratches [plural]
Etymology: back + scratch Etymology templates: {{compound|en|back|scratch}} back + scratch Head templates: {{en-noun}} backscratch (plural backscratches)
  1. A scratch on the back.
    Sense id: en-backscratch-en-noun-UMsSTu1q

Verb [English]

Audio: En-au-backscratch.ogg [Australia] Forms: backscratches [present, singular, third-person], backscratching [participle, present], backscratched [participle, past], backscratched [past]
Etymology: back + scratch Etymology templates: {{compound|en|back|scratch}} back + scratch Head templates: {{en-verb}} backscratch (third-person singular simple present backscratches, present participle backscratching, simple past and past participle backscratched)
  1. To scratch one's or another's back.
    Sense id: en-backscratch-en-verb-4Bimgv5m
  2. (business, politics, slang) To engage in a reciprocal beneficial action. Tags: slang Categories (topical): Business, Politics Translations (engage in reciprocal action): pastelear (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-backscratch-en-verb-nnbN3eLg Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 29 19 53 Topics: business, government, politics Disambiguation of 'engage in reciprocal action': 0 100
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: kickback, logrolling

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for backscratch meaning in All languages combined (5.5kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "back",
        "3": "scratch"
      },
      "expansion": "back + scratch",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "back + scratch",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "backscratches",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "backscratch (plural backscratches)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1931, The Mines Magazine, volume 21, page 9",
          "text": "Several Colorado papers have reproduced the substance of our articles on silver, and we thank them for their backscratches.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1989, Common Lives, Lesbian Lives, numbers 29-32, page 20",
          "text": "Backscratches keep improving but the itch increases.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Denise Giardina, The Unquiet Earth: A Novel",
          "text": "I had to admit he had nice fingernails and a backscratch would have felt just fine.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Ben Undelson, Fiction. A Nostalgic Guide to Growing up with the WWF",
          "text": "Series of clotheslines no-sold, so Haku tries backscratches, and, interestingly, that finally works.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A scratch on the back."
      ],
      "id": "en-backscratch-en-noun-UMsSTu1q",
      "links": [
        [
          "scratch",
          "scratch#English"
        ],
        [
          "back",
          "back#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-backscratch.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/69/En-au-backscratch.ogg/En-au-backscratch.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/En-au-backscratch.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "backscratch"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "back",
        "3": "scratch"
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      "expansion": "back + scratch",
      "name": "compound"
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  "etymology_text": "back + scratch",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "backscratches",
      "tags": [
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    },
    {
      "form": "backscratching",
      "tags": [
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    },
    {
      "form": "backscratched",
      "tags": [
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        "past"
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    },
    {
      "form": "backscratched",
      "tags": [
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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
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      "name": "en-verb"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "kickback"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "logrolling"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1984, Michael D. Powers, Behavioral Assessment of Severe Developmental Disabilities",
          "text": "He enjoyed being hugged, backscratched, and tickled and sat quietly next to the examiner after testing while a parental interview was conducted.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1995, Stephen R. Kellert, The Biophilia Hypothesis, page 397",
          "text": "So it is to the mutual advantage of social primates to backscratch for each other.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2000, David Michael Jacobs, UFOs and Abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge, page 190",
          "text": "[…] primate's inclination to backscratch and delouse rather than venture into the dangerous country beyond familiar tramping grounds.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To scratch one's or another's back."
      ],
      "id": "en-backscratch-en-verb-4Bimgv5m",
      "links": [
        [
          "scratch",
          "scratch#English"
        ],
        [
          "back",
          "back#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Business",
          "orig": "en:Business",
          "parents": [
            "Economics",
            "Society",
            "Social sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Sciences",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Politics",
          "orig": "en:Politics",
          "parents": [
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "29 19 53",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Ralph Steadman, Doodaaa: The Balletic Art of Gavin Twinge, page 105",
          "text": "It was backscratched into existence, cost nearly a billion pounds, and now they are wondering why they let it happen.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Nicholas Fearn, The Latest Answers to the Oldest Questions",
          "text": "The fount of social problems, he argues, is that human morality grew out of the natural principles of tit-for-tat and mutual backscratching.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Jeffrey M. Elliot, The Presidential-Congressional Political Dictionary, page 178",
          "text": "Whether referred to as bargaining, logrolling, or backscratching, the effect is the same: \"you support me, I'll support you.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To engage in a reciprocal beneficial action."
      ],
      "id": "en-backscratch-en-verb-nnbN3eLg",
      "links": [
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          "business",
          "business"
        ],
        [
          "politics",
          "politics"
        ],
        [
          "reciprocal",
          "reciprocal#English"
        ],
        [
          "beneficial",
          "beneficial"
        ],
        [
          "action",
          "action#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(business, politics, slang) To engage in a reciprocal beneficial action."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "business",
        "government",
        "politics"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "engage in reciprocal action",
          "word": "pastelear"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "En-au-backscratch.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/69/En-au-backscratch.ogg/En-au-backscratch.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/En-au-backscratch.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "backscratch"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
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  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
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        "3": "scratch"
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      "expansion": "back + scratch",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "back + scratch",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "backscratches",
      "tags": [
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      ]
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  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "backscratch (plural backscratches)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
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        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1931, The Mines Magazine, volume 21, page 9",
          "text": "Several Colorado papers have reproduced the substance of our articles on silver, and we thank them for their backscratches.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1989, Common Lives, Lesbian Lives, numbers 29-32, page 20",
          "text": "Backscratches keep improving but the itch increases.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Denise Giardina, The Unquiet Earth: A Novel",
          "text": "I had to admit he had nice fingernails and a backscratch would have felt just fine.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Ben Undelson, Fiction. A Nostalgic Guide to Growing up with the WWF",
          "text": "Series of clotheslines no-sold, so Haku tries backscratches, and, interestingly, that finally works.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A scratch on the back."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "scratch",
          "scratch#English"
        ],
        [
          "back",
          "back#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
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  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "En-au-backscratch.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/69/En-au-backscratch.ogg/En-au-backscratch.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/En-au-backscratch.ogg",
      "tags": [
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      "text": "Audio (AU)"
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  "word": "backscratch"
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{
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      "args": {
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        "2": "back",
        "3": "scratch"
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      "expansion": "back + scratch",
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "back + scratch",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "backscratches",
      "tags": [
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    },
    {
      "form": "backscratching",
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        "present"
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    },
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      "form": "backscratched",
      "tags": [
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        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "backscratched",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "backscratch (third-person singular simple present backscratches, present participle backscratching, simple past and past participle backscratched)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "kickback"
    },
    {
      "word": "logrolling"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1984, Michael D. Powers, Behavioral Assessment of Severe Developmental Disabilities",
          "text": "He enjoyed being hugged, backscratched, and tickled and sat quietly next to the examiner after testing while a parental interview was conducted.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1995, Stephen R. Kellert, The Biophilia Hypothesis, page 397",
          "text": "So it is to the mutual advantage of social primates to backscratch for each other.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2000, David Michael Jacobs, UFOs and Abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge, page 190",
          "text": "[…] primate's inclination to backscratch and delouse rather than venture into the dangerous country beyond familiar tramping grounds.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To scratch one's or another's back."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "scratch",
          "scratch#English"
        ],
        [
          "back",
          "back#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
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        "en:Business",
        "en:Politics"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Ralph Steadman, Doodaaa: The Balletic Art of Gavin Twinge, page 105",
          "text": "It was backscratched into existence, cost nearly a billion pounds, and now they are wondering why they let it happen.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Nicholas Fearn, The Latest Answers to the Oldest Questions",
          "text": "The fount of social problems, he argues, is that human morality grew out of the natural principles of tit-for-tat and mutual backscratching.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Jeffrey M. Elliot, The Presidential-Congressional Political Dictionary, page 178",
          "text": "Whether referred to as bargaining, logrolling, or backscratching, the effect is the same: \"you support me, I'll support you.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To engage in a reciprocal beneficial action."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "business",
          "business"
        ],
        [
          "politics",
          "politics"
        ],
        [
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        ],
        [
          "beneficial",
          "beneficial"
        ],
        [
          "action",
          "action#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(business, politics, slang) To engage in a reciprocal beneficial action."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "business",
        "government",
        "politics"
      ]
    }
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  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "En-au-backscratch.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/69/En-au-backscratch.ogg/En-au-backscratch.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/En-au-backscratch.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
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    }
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "engage in reciprocal action",
      "word": "pastelear"
    }
  ],
  "word": "backscratch"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.