Phrase guide

back forty

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

The remote part of a farm.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, US

Examples

  • They couldn't contact the farmer right away because he was out plowing the back forty

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: home forty

2

noun

Meaning 2

The most remote or inaccessible part of any place.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, US, idiomatic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From back + forty, meaning “back side of a farm”. In the Homestead Acts (1860s–), farmers were granted a quarter section; a section was nominally 1 square mile containing 640 acres, a quarter section was 160 acres, and the quarter section was itself subdivided into four quarter-quarter sections of 40 acres each: two front forty and two back forty. Compare north forty, back of beyond, backcountry, and backwater.