backstop
see also: Backstop
Noun

backstop (plural backstops)

  1. A thing or a person put in the rear or in the back of something to reinforce, hold, support.
  2. A default arrangement that holds if all else fails.
    • The Express, 7 June 2018
      Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar, this morning, said a time-limited backstop would be unacceptable, and has previously promised to vote down the UK’s Brexit withdrawal deal unless it features a satisfactory backstop.
    • The Irish Times, 17 November 2018
      "The 2½ years since have been about hammering home these points in any European capital that would listen. And in spite of capacity-sapping talks on the first point – Brexit, border and backstop – the Department of Foreign Affairs and other government departments have been working quietly to make good on the second.
  3. (baseball) A wall or fence behind home plate.
  4. (baseball slang) A catcher; the position of catcher.
  5. (rounders) The player who stands immediately behind the striking base.
  6. (cricket, dated) The longstop.
  7. (cricket, dated) The wicket-keeper.
  8. (espionage) Something serving to bolster or support a cover story etc.
    • 1976, Joseph Burkholder Smith, Portrait of a Cold Warrior (page 116)
      […] to be set up in Indonesia with a phony book and school supplies company established in New York City as a backstop.
    • 1990, Bruce W. Watson, ‎Susan M. Watson, ‎Gerald W. Hopple, United States intelligence: an encyclopedia (page 1974)
      Closely representing an alibi, creating a backstop could involve such measures as having people available to verify the details of an agent's cover story.
Translations Translations Translations
  • German: Abfangzaun
Verb

backstop (backstops, present participle backstopping; past and past participle backstopped)

  1. (transitive) To serve as backstop for.
  2. (transitive) To bolster, support.
Translations Translations
  • German: Rückendeckung geben

Backstop
Proper noun
  1. (UK) A proposed seamless border between Ireland and Northern Ireland in the event of Brexit.



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