Etymology
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backstitch (n.)

also back-stitch, 1610s, from back (adj.) + stitch (n.). So called because each stitch doubles back on the preceding one. As a verb from 1720.

Entries linking to backstitch

back (adj.)
"being behind, away from the front, in a backward direction," Middle English, from back (n.) and back (adv.); often difficult to distinguish from these when the word is used in combinations. Formerly with comparative backer (c. 1400), also backermore. To be on the back burner in the figurative sense is from 1960, from the image of a cook keeping a pot there to simmer while at work on another concoction at the front of the stove.
stitch (n.)
Old English stice "a prick, puncture, sting, stab," from Proto-Germanic *stikiz (source also of Old Frisian steke, Old High German stih, German Stich "a pricking, prick, sting, stab"), from PIE *stig-i-, from root *steig- "to stick; pointed" (see stick (v.)). The sense of "sudden, stabbing pain in the side" was in late Old English.

Senses in sewing and shoemaking first recorded late 13c.; meaning "bit of clothing one is (or isn't) wearing" is from c. 1500. Meaning "a stroke of work" (of any kind) is attested from 1580s. Surgical sense first recorded 1520s. Sense of "amusing person or thing" is 1968, from notion of laughing so much one gets stitches of pain (compare verbal expression to have (someone) in stitches, 1935).
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Definitions of backstitch
1
backstitch (v.)
do backstitches;
2
backstitch (n.)
an overlapping stitch made by starting the next stitch at the middle of the preceding one;
From wordnet.princeton.edu

Dictionary entries near backstitch

backslide

backspace

backstabber

backstage

backstairs

backstitch

backstop

backstory

backstreet

backstroke

backtalk

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