Back foot


noun
on the back foot, at a disadvantage; outmanoeuvred or outcl-ssed by an opponent
contemporary examples

government forces, he says, are constantly on the back foot, rarely launching offensives to regain territory.
iraqis swear: baghdad airport is safe from isis susannah george october 12, 2014

historical examples

he pulled at his back foot like a man striving to loose himself from thick mud.
before egypt e. k. jarvis

the great thing at first is to prevent the weight getting back on the back foot.
how to ski and how not to vivian caulfeild

a man never ascends or descends, nor walks at all in any direction, without raising the heel of the back foot.
a treatise on painting leonardo da vinci

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