Definition
The most remote or inaccessible part of any place.
Origins
From back + forty, meaning “back side of a farm”. In the Homestead Acts (1860s–), farmers were granted a quarter section; a section was nominally 1 square mile containing 640 acres, a quarter section was 160 acres, and the quarter section was itself subdivided into four quarter-quarter sections of 40 acres each: two front forty and two back forty. Compare north forty, back of beyond, backcountry, and backwater.
Also Said As
- See: Thesaurus:remote place
How People Actually Use It
The back forty' is a beloved American idiom. In the US, 1 township is 36 square miles (6 miles by 6 miles). Each square mile (a section of land) is divided into 16 subdivisions of 40 acres (1/4 mile by 1/4 mile)-- so a quarter section is 160 acres, a common unit of ownership in the early days of farming. The quarter-section farmer would own two 'front 40s' and two 'back 40s
"The back forty' is a beloved American idiom. In the US, 1 township is 36 square miles (6 miles by 6 miles). Each square mile (a section of land) is divided into 16 subdivisions of 40 acres (1/4 mile by 1/4 mile)-- so a quarter section is 160 acres, a common unit of ownership in the early days of farming. The quarter-section farmer would own two 'front 40s' and two 'back 40s"
Source: Urban Dictionary