back of beyond
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Noun edit
- (chiefly British, Ireland and Australia, informal, with "the"; usually with "in", sometimes "at" or "to") A very remote place.
- 1816, Sir Walter Scott, The Antiquary:
- "and you, wi’ some o’ your auld-warld stories, that the mind o’ man canna resist, whirl’d them to the back o’ beyont to look at the auld Roman camp"
- 1882, Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms:
- It was a regular outside bush township, and though the distance oughtn't to have much to say to people's honesty, you'll mostly find that these far-out back-of-beyond places have got men and women to match 'em.
- 1920, Margaret Pedler, The Hermit of Far End:
- "I thought I should like to go near the sea — to some quite tiny country place at the back of beyond."
- 1941 January, C. Hamilton Ellis, “The Scottish Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 3:
- To the "Sou' West" we owe such jolly little back-o'-beyond stations as Whithorn and Portpatrick.
- 1969, Patsy Adam-Smith, Folklore of the Australian Railwaymen, Melbourne: Macmillan, page 151:
- We began to take Santa Claus to the kids at the isolated sidings for the same reason men all over Australia on the lines back o' beyond did [...] we didn't want them to miss that magic.
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A remote place
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