unbacked

From un- +‎ backed.

unbacked (comparative more unbacked, superlative most unbacked)

1. (not comparable) Having no back.

   an unbacked bench

2. Not supported or backed up (by someone or something).

   Synonym: unsupported

   • 1609, Thomas Heywood, Troia Britanica: or, Great Britaines Troy‎, London: W. Iaggard, Canto 14, stanza 103, p. 381:

     The warlike Wench amongst the Greekes doth stand
     Vnbackt by Troy, left of her Damsels all,
     The battery of a thousand swords she bides,
     Till her yron plates are hew’d off from her sides.

   • 1954, William Golding, Lord of the Flies:

     The simple statement, unbacked by any proof but the weight of Ralph’s new authority, brought light and happiness.

     New York: Perigee, Chapter 2, p. 35,

   • 1962, Doris Lessing, “Free Women: 2”, in The Golden Notebook‎, New York: Bantam, published 1979, page 306:

     This was an intellectual decision, unbacked by moral energy.

3. Having no (or few) backers.

   an unbacked racehorse

   a largely unbacked fundraising project

4. (obsolete, not comparable) Of an animal: never having been ridden or not accustomed to being ridden; not (currently) being ridden.

   Synonym: unbroken

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     […] like unback’d colts, they prick’d their ears,
     Advanced their eyelids, lifted up their noses
     As they smelt music:

   • 1646, John Suckling, Fragmenta Aurea‎, London: Humphrey Moseley, page 71:

     […] a well wayed horse will safely convay thee to thy journeys end, when an unbackt Filly may by chance give thee a fall:

   • 1753, William Hogarth, chapter 17, in The Analysis of Beauty‎, London: for the author, page 140:

     […] whoever has seen a fine arabian war-horse, unback’d and at liberty, and in a wanton trot, cannot but remember what a large waving line his rising, and at the same time pressing forward, cuts through the air;

   • 1823, Mary Shelley, Valperga, London: G. and W.B. Whittaker, Volume 2, Chapter 10, p. 237,

     having visited his charger which was to be led unbacked to the field, he mounted a black palfrey;

   • 1890, Rudyard Kipling, “The Incarnation of Krishna Mulvaney”, in Mine Own People‎, New York: Manhattan Press, page 176:

     Shakbolt must have had apoplexy at the thought of his ramping war-horses answering to that description. He used to buy unbacked devils, and tame them by starvation.

5. (photography, holography) (of a plate) Not having an antihalation backing.^[1]

• unback
• unbackable

• backdune