backup \back"up\, n.
1. anything kept in reserve to serve as a substitute in case
of failure or unavailability of the normal or primary
object; -- used for devices, plans, people, etc. Also used
attributively; as, there was no backup for the electrical
supply; a backup motor; a backup generator.
[PJC]
2. (Music) a musician or group of musicians accompanying a
soloist, whether vocalists or instrumentalists.
Syn: accompaniment. [PJC]
3. a person or group of persons serving as reinforcement for
another or others; as, the policeman called for backup
when he was fired on.
[PJC]
4. an accumulation, overflow, or reverse flow (in traffic or
a liquid flow system) caused by a stoppage or other
malfunction.
[PJC]
5. (Computers) A copy of a program or data from a computer
onto a data-storage medium, usually one that may be
removed to safe storage at a distance from the computer;
it is used to preserve data for use in the contingency
that the original data on the computer may be lost or
become unusable. A backup that is removed from the
building housing the computer system (to provide
protection against loss of data in a disastrous event such
as a fire) is called off-site backup. Also used
attributively; as, backup copy.
[PJC]
6. (Computers) The act or process of creating a backup[5];
as, they performed a full system backup every weekend.
[PJC] Backward
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
backup
n 1: an accumulation caused by clogging or a stoppage; "a traffic
backup on the main street"; "he discovered a backup in
the toilet"
2: someone who takes the place of another (as when things get
dangerous or difficult); "the star had a stand-in for
dangerous scenes"; "we need extra employees for summer
fill-ins" [syn: stand-in, substitute, relief, reliever,
backup man, fill-in]
3: a subordinate musical part; provides background for more
important parts [syn: accompaniment, musical
accompaniment, support]
4: (computer science) a copy of a file or directory on a
separate storage device; "he made a backup in case the
original was accidentally damaged or erased" [syn: computer
backup]
5: the act of providing approval and support; "his vigorous
backing of the conservatives got him in trouble with
progressives" [syn: backing, championship, patronage]
WordNet (r) 2.0
104 Moby Thesaurus words for "backup":
about-face, about-turn, advocate, agent, alter ego, alternate,
alternative, amicus curiae, analogy, attorney, back track,
back trail, backing, backing off, backing out, backing up,
backup man, champion, change, changeling, comparison, copy,
counterfeit, deputy, double, dummy, equal, equivalent, ersatz,
exchange, executive officer, exponent, fake, figurehead, fill-in,
ghost, ghostwriter, imitation, lieutenant, locum, locum tenens,
makeshift, metaphor, metonymy, mock, next best thing, paranymph,
personnel, phony, pinch, pinch hitter, pleader, procurator,
provisional, proxy, relief, replacement, representative, reserve,
reserves, reversal, reverse, reversing, reversion, right-about,
right-about-face, ringer, second in command, second string,
secondary, sign, spare, spares, stand-in, stopgap, sub,
substituent, substitute, substitution, succedaneum, superseder,
supplanter, surrogate, swingaround, symbol, synecdoche, temporary,
tentative, third string, token, turnabout, turnaround, understudy,
utility, utility man, utility player, vicar, vicar general,
vicarious, vice, vice-president, vice-regent, vicegerent,
volte-face
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
backup
(Sometimes "back up" when used as a verb) A
spare copy of a file, file system or other resource for use in
the event of failure or loss of the original.
The term is most commonly used to refer to a copy of all the
files on a computer's disks which is made periodically and
kept on magnetic tape or other removable medium (also called
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)
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