back end

See also: back-end and backend

English

Alternative forms

• back-end, backend
• backen', back-en' (Scotland)

Noun

back end (plural back ends)

1. The rear, back, or unseen portion (of something).

   The back end of the operation is kept out of sight of the customers.

2. (computing) That part of a hardware or software system that is farthest from the user; the internals rather than the user interface.

   Antonym: front end

   • 2002, Simson Garfinkel, Michael K. Mahoney, Building Cocoa Applications: A Step-by-step Guide, "O'Reilly Media, Inc.", →ISBN, page 295:

     Together, the MathDocument and PaperController classes comprise the MathPaper application's front end, while the Evaluator makes up the application's back end. This technique of having separate front and back ends is a common […]

3. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) The latter end of any given time, especially the latter part of the year; autumn; late autumn.
4. (entertainment, etc.) Money paid on a contingent deferred basis, for example, as a proportion of the profits or revenue of a work.
   • 1995, Jonathan Kirsch, Kirsch's Handbook of Publishing Law, page 212:

     so-called “back end” deals is speculative at best. Ideally, the author or book publisher will secure a percentage of gross revenues rather than net profits, but such deals are rare indeed.

   • 2003, Melvin Simensky, Entertainment Law, page 1222:

     How does the taking of “back end” compensation affect the creative control asserted by an actor?

   • 2004, Dean Koontz, The Face, page 64:

     That kind of money, he can get a piece of anybody's back end he wants." “It's an industry phrase. Means if the picture is a big hit, he gets a share of the profits, sometimes even a percentage of gross.

   • 2013, Peter Biskind, Down and Dirty Pictures:

     […] Miramax was going to buy out the U.S. and Canadian rights to the picture and terminate everyone else's participation for a payout that included a guaranteed amount for the back end, as well as bonuses if the film exceeded certain levels of U.S. box office performance.

5. The processing of spent fuel from a nuclear reactor into reusable materials.

Derived terms

• look like the back end of a bus

Translations

rear, back or invisible portion

• Finnish: takapää, takaosa (fi), loppupää, loppuosa
• Russian: за́дняя часть f (zádnjaja častʹ), закулисье (ru) n (zakulisʹje), кухня (ru) f (kuxnja)

computing: part of a system that is farthest from the user

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 後端／后端 (hòuduān)

• Finnish: palvelinpuoli, taustajärjestelmä, back end
• French: back-end (fr) m, arrière-plan (fr) m
• Georgian: სერვერული მხარე (serveruli mxare), ბექენდი (bekendi) (slang)
• German: Back-End n
• Japanese: バックエンド (ja) (bakkuendo)
• Russian: прикладна́я часть f (prikladnája častʹ), бэк-э́нд m (bɛk-énd)
• Spanish: dorsal (es) m, motor (es) m (parasynonym)

latter end of any given time

• Finnish: loppupuoli
• Russian: по́здняя f (pózdnjaja)

See also

• front end