Language: en
Meaning: (idiomatic,transitive)Tosurpriseorshock; todiscomfit.I was rathertaken abackby his angry reply.The bad newstookusaback.1807, William Cobbett,Cobbett's Political Register, Vol. XI., London: Cox and Baylis,page121:I was, at first, a littletaken abackand astounded at the bulk of the volume; but, I turned out early this morning, and with eager hope and expectation set doggedly to work in search of the promised consolation.1808,The Post-Captain: A View of Naval Society and Manners, 3rd edition, London: Thomas Tegg,page165:I would rather board a hundred of the enemy's frigates, than steer my boat into a fleet of modest women, for a modest woman never fails totakemeaback.1998, Penelope Fitzgerald,The Beginning of Spring, Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company,page156:Frank wastaken abackwhen Lisa told him that she also needed forgiveness from him, for actions, for words, and for unspoken thoughts.2000, Rupert Thomson,Soft!,page292:In a way, he wastaken abackby the absence of discouragement.2000, Tanith Lee,White as Snow, New York: Tom Doherty Associates,page105:She was nottaken abackto find he lived in a ramshackle log hut among the trees.2001, Anna Gilbert,A Morning in Eden, New York: St. Martin's Press,page 9:She was a littletaken abackto find the front door of heavy oak unlocked.2002, Russell Miller,Behind the Lines: The Oral History of Special Operations in World War II, New York: St. Martin's Press,page178:Zervas was rathertaken abackto learn that Ares Veloutiotes, the communist leader, was on his way to the village because there was no friendship between them.2008, Denis Noble,The Music of Life: Biology beyond genes,page123:The physiologist istaken aback.2014July 1, Steve Rose, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: a primate scream - first look review”, inThe Guardian:They haven't seen humans for years, so when a small expedition, led by Jason Clarke, stumbles into apetopia, both sides aretaken aback.2023August 9, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Disinterested and dishonest”, inRAIL, number989, page 3:Most commentators have beentaken aback(but reassured) at how opposition has, if anything, grown rather than faded over time.; (nautical,usually passive)Of a ship: to catch it with the sails aback suddenly.
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