(a sea term), the situation of the sails when the surfaces are flatted against the masts by the force of the wind. The sails are said to be taken aback when they are brought into this situation, either by a sudden change of the wind, or by an alteration in the ship's course. They are laid aback, to effect an immediate retreat, without turning to the right or left; or, in the sea phrase, to give the ship stern-way, in order to avoid some danger discovered before her in a narrow channel, or when she has advanced beyond her station in the line of battle, or otherwise. The sails are placed in this position by slackening their lee braces, and hauling in the weather ones; so that the whole effort of the wind is exerted on the fore part of their surface, which readily pushes the ship aft, unless she is restrained by some counteracting force. It is also usual to spread some sail aback near the stern, as the mizen-top-sail, when a ship rides with a single anchor in a road, in order to prevent her from approaching it so as to entangle the flukes of it with her slackened cable, and thereby loosen it from the ground.