backbend

noun

back·​bend ˈbak-ˌbend 

1

: a movement (as in gymnastics) in which from a standing position with the knees straight the body is arched backward until the hands touch the floor over the head

2

: a posture or pose (as in yoga) that extends the front of the body and bends the spine backwards

… this action supports your lower back and generates a strong lift of the belly out of the pelvis to help release the spine into a deep backbend.

—Barbara Benagh

Examples of backbend in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Under Hutchinson, who arrived in 1977, Inglewood adopted the show style — with its energetic mash-up of music and dance, high-stepping, swaying and gravity-defying backbends — which at the time was largely absent on the West Coast. —Melissa Gomez, Los Angeles Times, 23 July 2024

Callahan, 13, contorts herself into a backbend as 7-year-old Hudson fiddles with a balloon and 10-year-old Keegan plays the piano. —Heather Hollingsworth, Fortune, 25 Sep. 2023

Here's how to do a mobilization backbend: Start in a split stance, with one foot slightly behind you and the heel slightly raised. —Jacqueline Andriakos, Health, 18 Aug. 2023

Goldie Hawn said farewell to a vacation by the Aegean Sea with a standing backbend furthered by the stunning natural scenery. —Calin Van Paris, Vogue, 25 June 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1911, in the meaning defined at sense 2