From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdouble back phrasal verbRETURNto turn around and go back the way you have come The driver doubled back and headed for Howard Bay.double back on yourself We kept getting lost and having to double back on ourselves. → double→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
double back• But Vicenza was half way from Venice to Verona, so if they did that they would all be doubling back.• There came a time when he doubled back after the others had gone on the trail taking their cyan hardness with them.• I chased one into a warehouse where he managed to double back and attack me from behind.• They had doubled back and got out of the single-leaf door of the car.• But our dinner doubled back away from the marksmen and headed over a ridge.• The way moves cast, and then doubles back, labyrinth-like, to head north and up the stairs.double back on yourself• The box gave out a constant stream of beeps as the Doctor walked, occasionally doubling back on himself.• The compounded logic of stacked loops which doubles back on itself is the source of the strange counterintuitive behaviors of complex circuits. 