late 14c., "water behind a dam," from back (adj.) + water (n.1). Hence flat water without a current near a flowing river, as in a mill race (1820); figurative use of this for any flat, dull [..]

water held back from flowing.

Accumulation of water resulting from an obstruction, limited downstream channel capacity, high tide, or high stages in a connecting stream.

area of still water created by an impediment to drainage e.g. a sediment bar across an ox-bow lake.

Shallow area of a river that is sometimes isolated, often being located behind a sand bar or other obstruction in the river. Large backwaters tat are isolated may be referred to as oxbows.

(n) a body of water that was created by a flood or tide or by being held or forced back by a dam(n) a place or condition in which no development or progress is occurring

(1) Water at the lower end of a millrace to check the speed of the wheel. (2) A current of water from the inland, which clears off the deposit of sand and silt left by the action of the sea; as the Ba [..]

An arm of the sea, usually lying parallel with the coast behind a narrow strip of land, or an arm of a river out of the main channel, and out of the main tidal stream or current.

    To back off from something.  

The water thrown back when waves strike a wall or other solid object. The water that appears to follow under the stern of a ship. To back water is to move the oars of a boat so that the boat moves ast [..]

Water held back from the main flow, as that which overflows the land and collects in low places or that forming an inlet approximately parallel to the main body and connected thereto by a narrow outle [..]

The water held back by a dam or other obstruction (idiomatic) A remote place; somewhere that remains unaffected by new events, progresses, ideas, etc. * '''1978''', National Opera Association - ' [..]