From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbackwards and forwardsbackwards and forwardsORDER/SEQUENCEfirst in one direction and then in the opposite direction, usually many times Kip stumbled backwards and forwards before falling down. → backwards
Examples from the Corpus
backwards and forwards• He started shaking it backwards and forwards.• It didn't exactly touch my hand, but sort of glided over it, wrinkling backwards and forwards.• The cross is meant to be imagined as oscillating backwards and forwards.• The irregular echo of footsteps passed backwards and forwards along the corridor outside.• Keith throws his right shoulder backwards and forwards, hoping the pads will somehow slide into place.• Pike's head quite often pulses backwards and forwards like a mechanical toy.• Then we noticed that the Pike head was sort of pulsing backwards and forwards like a mechanical toy.• They do not want to waste their time going backwards and forwards to the general practitioner's surgery. 