backread

English

Etymology

From back +‎ read.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbækˌɹiːd/
• IPA^(key): /ˈbækˌɹɛd/ past & past participle

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

backread (third-person singular simple present backreads, present participle backreading, simple past and past participle backread)

1. (Internet slang, especially IRC) To catch up on an ongoing conversation, by reading previous portions one was not present for.
   1. (by extension) To read conversations one was not present for.
2. To interpret what one has read previously in the light of later experience or knowledge.
   • 1980, Diana Hume George, Blake and Freud:

     Thereafter, Freud was obliged not only to expand but to backread that expansion into all that came before.

   • 2001, Andrew Rippin, Muslims: their religious beliefs and practices:

     What must be recognized is the nature of the source material in which one sees a theological/ideological backreading of history.

Anagrams

• readback