From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgo back phrasal verb1 RETURNto return to a place that you have just come from I think we ought to go back now. to/into/inside etc I felt so sick I just wanted to go back to bed. for I had to go back for my passport (=to get my passport).2 there’s no going back spoken used to say that you cannot make a situation the same as it was before I realized that once the baby was born there would be no going back.3 [always + adverb/preposition]PAST to have been made, built, or started at some time in the past It’s a tradition that goes back at least 100 years. to The building goes back to Roman times.4 if people go back a particular length of time, they have known each other for that length of time Peter and I go back 25 years. We go back a long way (=we have been friends for a long time).5 to think about a particular time in the past or something that someone said before If you go back 20 years, most people didn’t own a computer. to I’d like to go back to the point that was made earlier.6 the clocks go back when the clocks go back in the autumn, the time officially changes so that the clock shows one hour earlier than it was before The clocks go back in October. → go→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
go back• I swore I'd never go back.• I left my hometown 12 years ago, and I have no desire to go back.• It's no use having regrets. You can't go back!• We'll have to go back for the tickets - I think I left them on the desk.• Frank's gone back home to visit his parents and won't be back for a week.• It's cold out here - shall we go back inside?• She went back into the house.• When their car was out of sight I went back into the house.• Part of the trail was flooded, so we had to go back the way we had come.• When will you be going back to Japan?• I wish I could go back to my school days.• Yeah, Jenny and I go back to sixth grade.• In such cases, go back to the beginning and read the thing.• Wouldn't it be nice if we could go back to the days when life was slower than it is today.• You went back to work at half-past one.• The phone started ringing again as soon as I went back upstairs.go for• I had to go back for my passport.there’s no going back• Too late you realize that there's no going back.• There's no going back, even if I wanted to, which I don't.go to• Mr Ahmed had gone back to Birmingham and the family heard that he was living with another woman.• Many phrases in the language go back to early religious writings.• Our friendship goes back to our freshman year in college.• She turned around and went back to sit in the road.• In any case, she was too scared to go back to sleep even if she had been able to.• He then went back to sleep.• They made just enough money busking for him not to have to go back to that.• At the end of six or eight months, they could go back to the old way, at the old wages.• It really goes back to the Puritans.• Jo just refuses to get into a car -- it all goes back to when she had that accident.• Why don't you go back to your surgery?go back a long way• Bill and I go back a long way.• The reputation goes back a long way.• They go back a long way.• I know your aunt - in fact we go back a long way.• But I hope he will; we go back a long way.• Collective self-help and co-operative ways of tackling problems go back a long way.• Iron working in the area goes back a long way.• Mankind's love affair with the apple goes back a long way.• The President and I went back a long way.• Sam and I go way back. We sat next to each other in first grade.• Such technology is the product of a company with roots that go back a long way in the history of sportswear.go to• Mr Ahmed had gone back to Birmingham and the family heard that he was living with another woman.• She turned around and went back to sit in the road.• In any case, she was too scared to go back to sleep even if she had been able to.• He then went back to sleep.• They made just enough money busking for him not to have to go back to that.• At the end of six or eight months, they could go back to the old way, at the old wages.• It really goes back to the Puritans.• Why don't you go back to your surgery? 