Back-ganging

//ˈbækˌɡæŋɪŋ// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A going back; a returning; also, the way back. Northern-England, Scotland, uncountable
  2. 2
    A deterioration, especially in circumstances or health; a relapse, a retrograde. Northern-England, Scotland, uncountable
Adjective
  1. 1
    Behind or late in payment or rent; in arrears. Northern-England, Scotland

    "Here he opened the fatal volume [a rental book]; I have heard of a thing they call Doomsday book—I am clear it has been a rental of back-ganging tenants."

  2. 2
    Not in a good financial state; unprosperous. Northern-England, Scotland
  3. 3
    Not in good health; sickly, unhealthy. Northern-England, Scotland

Synonyms

All synonyms
backgainbackgain

Example

More examples

"Here he opened the fatal volume [a rental book]; I have heard of a thing they call Doomsday book—I am clear it has been a rental of back-ganging tenants."

Etymology

From back- + ganging (“going”), from gang (“to go, proceed; to walk”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.