From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
backward
adj 1: directed or facing toward the back or rear; "a backward
view" [ant: forward]
2: (used of temperament or behavior) marked by a retiring
nature; "a backward lover" [ant: forward]
3: retarded in intellectual development [syn: feebleminded]
adv 1: at or to or toward the back or rear; "he moved back";
"tripped when he stepped backward"; "she looked
rearward out the window of the car" [syn: back,
backwards, rearward, rearwards] [ant: forward]
2: in a manner or order or direction the reverse of normal;
"it's easy to get the `i' and the `e' backward in words
like `seize' and `siege'"; "the child put her jersey on
backward" [syn: backwards]
3: in or to or toward a past time; "set the clocks back an
hour"; "never look back"; "lovers of the past looking
fondly backward" [syn: back] [ant: ahead]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Backward \Back"ward\, v. t.
To keep back; to hinder. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Backward \Back"ward\, n.
The state behind or past. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
In the dark backward and abysm of time. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Backward \Back"ward\, Backwards \Back"wards\, adv. [Back, adv. +
-ward.]
1. With the back in advance or foremost; as, to ride
backward.
[1913 Webster]
2. Toward the back; toward the rear; as, to throw the arms
backward.
[1913 Webster]
3. On the back, or with the back downward.
[1913 Webster]
Thou wilt fall backward. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
4. Toward, or in, past time or events; ago.
[1913 Webster]
Some reigns backward. --Locke.
[1913 Webster]
5. By way of reflection; reflexively. --Sir J. Davies.
[1913 Webster]
6. From a better to a worse state, as from honor to shame,
from religion to sin.
[1913 Webster]
The work went backward. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
7. In a contrary or reverse manner, way, or direction;
contrarily; as, to read backwards.
[1913 Webster]
We might have . . . beat them backward home. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Backward \Back"ward\, a.
1. Directed to the back or rear; as, backward glances.
[1913 Webster]
2. Unwilling; averse; reluctant; hesitating; loath.
[1913 Webster]
For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
3. Not well advanced in learning; not quick of apprehension;
dull; inapt; as, a backward child. "The backward learner."
--South.
[1913 Webster]
4. Late or behindhand; as, a backward season.
[1913 Webster]
5. Not advanced in civilization; undeveloped; as, the country
or region is in a backward state.
[1913 Webster]
6. Already past or gone; bygone. [R.]
[1913 Webster]
And flies unconscious o'er each backward year.
--Byron.
[1913 Webster]