BACKLASH • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Backlash

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/bˈæklˌæʃ/ Listen

noun

Backlash n.

(Mech.) The distance through which one part of connected machinery, as a wheel, piston, or screw, can be moved without moving the connected parts, resulting from looseness in fitting or from wear; also, the jarring or reflex motion caused in badly fitting machinery by irregularities in velocity or a reverse of motion.

A strong and sudden reverse movement in a moving part of a machine.

A strong popular reaction serving to counter the effect of an action; used especially of adverse reactions to social or political developments.

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Etymology of 'Backlash'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Backlash" Quotes from Famous Books

... deviation has to be made, the steering handles need not be touched, and the rider may, if sufficiently confident, travel with his arms folded or his hands in his pockets. The rigid connection between the cranks and the wheels does away with all the backlash, which is so unpleasant with chain or toothed wheel gearing. There is no differential gear or clutch, but the machine possesses the advantage of the clutch over the differential gear when meeting with unequal resistance on a straight course, for each wheel must travel at the same speed; but, ...

— Scientific American Supplement, No. 447, July 26, 1884 • Various

... introduced a new compression type that could be disabled for backward-compatibility). PKWare settled out of court to avoid enormous legal costs (both SEA and PKWare are small companies); as part of the settlement, the name of PKARC was changed to PKPAK. The public backlash against SEA for bringing suit helped to hasten the demise of ARC as a standard when PKWare and others introduced new, incompatible archivers with ...

— THE JARGON FILE, VERSION 2.9.10

... his closed eyelids Rynch caught the flash of vivid, man-made lightning crashing first on one side of the islet and then on the other, and sweeping every crawling horror out of life, into odorous ash. The backlash of that blast must have caught the majority of the lights also. For when Rynch and Hume cautiously sat up, they saw only a handful of widely scattered ...

— Star Hunter • Andre Alice Norton