take aback

English

Etymology

(nautical) A square-rigged ship is taken aback when the wind blows on the front of the sails.

Verb

take aback (third-person singular simple present takes aback, present participle taking aback, simple past took aback, past participle taken aback)

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To surprise or shock; to discomfit.

   I was rather taken aback by his angry reply.

   The bad news took us aback.

2. (nautical, usually passive) Of a ship: to catch it with the sails aback suddenly.

Usage notes

• Most commonly found in the passive voice.
• Unlike most phrasal verbs, take aback in the active voice requires its object to immediately follow the verb. *The bad news took aback us is ungrammatical in contemporary English.

Translations

to surprise or shock

• Bulgarian: изненадвам (bg) (iznenadvam), издебвам (bg) (izdebvam)
• Croatian: iznenaditi, osupnuti, zapanjiti, preneraziti
• Czech: překvapit (cs)
• Finnish: ällistyttää (fi), järkyttää (fi)
• German: überraschen (de)
• Greek: ξαφνιάζω (el) (xafniázo)
• Irish: bain siar as (ga)

• Russian: ошеломлять (ru) (ošelomlját’) impf., ошеломить (ru) (ošelomít’) pf., захватывать врасплох (ru) (zaxvátyvat’ vrasplóx) impf., застать врасплох (ru) (zastátʹ vrasplóx)
• Scottish Gaelic: cuir iongnadh air (gd)
• Spanish: agarrar en curva, sorprender (es), pasmar (es), asombrar (es), dejar pasmado (es), dejar estupefacto (es), agarrar de sorpresa (es)

to catch with sails aback

• Finnish: joutua vastatuuleen