backset - From Ulster to America
Source: From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English
Author: Michael Montgomery
Comments: From Ulster to America recounts the lasting impact eighteenth-century settlers from Ulster have made on the development of the English language of the United States. The book documents over 500 vocabulary items contributed to American English by these ‘Scotch-Irish’ settlers. Each ‘shared’ term with its meaning is authenticated by quotations from both sides of the Atlantic. This searchable online version of his book takes its text from the dictionary part of the second edition published by the Ullans Press in 2017.
backset n (especially in phr take a backset) The relapse of an illness or ailment. [perhaps a reversal of setback; oed backset n 1 ‘a reverse, check, relapse’ 1721→, Scottish; snd backset n 1 ‘anything that checks one’s course or causes a relapse: of health, worldly circumstances, vegetation, etc.’ 1721→; dare backset n 1b ‘a relapse during convalescense’ chiefly South, South Midland, take a backset especially Appalachians]
Ulst.:
c1910 Byers Glossary = always used of a relapse after illness, never in a moral sense.
1923 Lutton Montiaghisms 9 = a relapse into sickness; anything that checks the growth of plants or animals.
1939 Paterson Country Cracks 119 ‘He’s got a back-set’ = He has got a relapse.
1953 Traynor Donegal Glossary 11 She had a bad backset.
1990 Todd Words Apart 25 She was doin’ rightly an’ we thought she’d have another wee go but she took a backset an’ now she’s a-waitin on (expected to die).
U.S.:
1816 Calhoun Works 2.170 It would give a back set, and might … endanger their ultimate success.
1939 Hall Coll He tuck the whooping cough along about Christmas time and was out of school for a month, and then he tuck a back set and was out of school again.
1996 GSMNPOHP 1:4 They’d get up too early and try to take care of somebody and take a backset.
Purchase From Ulster to America
The second, revised edition of Michael Montgomery’s From Ulster to America is now available here:
From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English (Europe)
From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English (North America)