noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A type of sewing stitch where the stitch goes backwards on the top side of the fabric and doubles forward on the bottom, coming out farther in front, then repeats. The backstitch is a very tight and secure stitch, and also looks very neat.
2. 2
   an overlapping stitch made by starting the next stitch at the middle of the preceding one wordnet

Verb

1. 1
   To sew with a backstitch.
2. 2
   do backstitches wordnet

Etymology

From back + stitch.

Related phrases

stem stitch

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