backpedal

1. (intransitive) To pedal backwards on a bicycle.Examples: "The road was on a hill and the boy was going down the slope, and as he flashed by he started backpedalling very quickly so that the free-wheeling mechanism of his bike made a loud whirring sound."intransitive

2. (intransitive) To step backwards.Examples: "The player had to backpedal before catching the ball."intransitive

3. (intransitive, idiomatic) To distance oneself from an earlier claim or statement; back off from an idea.Examples: "Though initially adopting a hard-line stance, the politician soon started to backpedal."; "The best car sound of 1999 is that of a new Rover 75 being furiously backpedalled through the motoring page of the Sunday Times."; "There were harsher comments from Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas: "The negotiations are in a state of paralysis, and the result of Israel's intransigence and America's backpedalling is that there is no hope of negotiations on the horizon.""Synonyms: climb down, walk backidiomaticintransitive