backbench
Etymology
From back + bench.
backbench means relating to the back benches in parliament Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 85 out of 100.
adj
- relating to the back benches in parliament“He prefers to be a backbench MP.”
- Pertaining to the preparation of a donor organ prior to transplantation.“Cold preservation is a component of the donor organ resection procedure, not the backbench preparation.”
- Secondary or inactive.“In contrast, the less able, the backbench players, tend to stick around, and if they're in a position of power, they are also inclined to hire and promote other also-rans or, worse, people incapable of even finishing the race.”
noun
- A bench at the back of a room or seating area.“But no one was waiting at the backbench and the older fellow looked as if he had dug in to stay.”
- A bench at the back of a room or seating area.; In a house of legislature following the model of the Westminster system (such as the UK House of Commons), any bench behind either of the front benches and occupied by members of each party group who are not party leaders, cabinet ministers, holders of offices such as the whips, etc.“His spacious quarters indicate his transition from backbench upstart to established member of the governing team.”
- A bench at the back of a room or seating area.; The back row of a classroom.“The petitioner who was a student of Class X was in the backbench when a lady teacher was teaching there.”
- A bench at the back of a room or seating area.; The back pew of a church.“Through this two-year, transcontinental colloquy, through this vast outpouring of personal sentiments and reactions from poor homes and rich, from backwoods cabins and metropolitan penthouses, from the young and old, from dubious backbench sitters and busy pillars of the congregations, from the bitter and the satisfied, each person telling it as he or she saw it.”
- A bench at the back of a room or seating area.; A back bench in a courtroom.“Seated on the backbench of the courtroom, Emerald had mixed feelings.”
- A bench at the back of a room or seating area.; The back seat of an automobile, van, or bus.“They scooted into a double seat near the rear and noticed that even with four people squeezed into the backbench, they had been lucky to find the last empty places.”