back forty

American  

Or back 40

noun

1. remote, usually uncultivated acreage on a large piece of land, as on a farm or ranch.

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Etymology

Origin of back forty

Apparently because forty acres was a typical size for such a piece of land

Example Sentences

So, you’re not saying he was a special agent going back forty years?

From The New Yorker • Nov. 24, 2019

And, here, it’s instructive again to go back forty years.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 11, 2019

“Main man, you’re my support,” it begins, “your two strong legs, your back forty years against a brick wall.”

From New York Times • Mar. 31, 2012

To drive back forty thousand with one hundred and twenty thousand would not apparently prove difficult, and it was no doubt this conviction which had occasioned the joyous exclamation of General Hooker.

From A Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee by Cooke, John Esten

My memory goes back forty years to Russia, when I was on a bear-shooting expedition with Sir Robert Kennedy.

From Here, There and Everywhere by Hamilton, Frederick Spencer, Lord