piggyback

adverb pig·gy·back \ ˈpi-gē-ˌbak \

variants: or less commonly pickaback play \ˈpi-gē-, ˈpi-kə-\

|Updated on: 19 Jun 2018

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of piggyback

1 : up on the back and shoulders

2 : on or as if on the back of another; especially : on a railroad flatcar

See piggyback defined for kids

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Did You Know?

Have you ever wondered where the porcine part of piggyback comes from? Well, it's not from the pigs themselves. The adverb piggyback likely began as "a pick pack." Another early form of the word is pickback, evidence of which can be found in the still-extant variant pickaback. The adverb piggyback dates to the mid-16th century, and the noun-referring to an act of carrying piggyback-was in use by the end of that same century. The adjective piggyback, as in "piggyback ride," didn't enter the language until the 18th century, and the now-common verb piggyback didn't piggyback on the others until the late 19th century.

Origin and Etymology of piggyback

alteration of earlier a pick pack, of unknown origin

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1565

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

piggyback

noun

variants: or less commonly pickaback

Definition of piggyback

1 : the act of carrying piggyback

2 : the movement of loaded truck trailers on railroad flatcars

See piggyback defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of piggyback from the Web

After, O’Rourke ascended the stage with his daughter, Molly, riding piggyback.

— michael hoinski, GQ, "Beto in the Outfield," 19 Apr. 2018
The second touchdown was a 60-yard run by quarterback Feleipe Franks, who celebrated by punting the ball into the stands and then jumping onto the back of defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and getting a piggyback ride across the end zone.

— mike bianchi, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Dan Mullen turns Gators spring game into fun-filled spring fling," 15 Apr. 2018
That toughness and durability was on display last week as Lee caught a simple hitch route during a morning session and proceeded to give half of the scout team a piggyback ride for an additional five yards.

— AL.com, "Versatile Donnie Lee embracing new role on UAB offense," 30 Mar. 2018
Then, the largest piggyback ride ever, with the 6-6 Gronk jumping upon the 7-1 Shaq’s shoulders.

— david j. neal, miamiherald, "Shaq’s threw a party Ultra weekend. Some dancing was ri-Gronk-ulous (and shirtless) | Miami Herald," 25 Mar. 2018
In a clever move, Place’s new visual search piggybacks on its original mission to show users how Ikea furniture will look in their home.

— liz stinson, Curbed, "Ikea’s AR app now lets you search with your phone camera," 22 Mar. 2018
The local government and library fund would get $600,000 less and transit authorities, which can apply piggyback sales taxes, would lose $4 million.

— jackie borchardt, cleveland.com, "Ohio lawmakers approve permanent sales tax holiday," 22 Mar. 2018
To put it in some perspective, DXR piggybacks on DirectX 12.

— brad chacos, PCWorld, "Microsoft's DirectX Raytracing paves the way for lifelike gaming, the graphics holy grail," 19 Mar. 2018
In a video montage that followed, Kim and Fallon posed in the background of the photographs in silly poses, including eating a sandwich, Fallon giving Kim a piggyback ride and Fallon wearing a Kim lookalike wig, hat and gold medal.

— katie kilkenny, The Hollywood Reporter, "Watch Chloe Kim and Jimmy Fallon Photo-Bomb Olympics Fans on Shortened 'Tonight Show'," 21 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'piggyback.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.