WordWeb Online

1. The backward escape of gases and unburned gunpowder after a gun is fired
   - backfire
    
2. Misinformation resulting from the recirculation into the source country of disinformation previously planted abroad by that country's intelligence service
    
3. Blowback is a system of operation for self-loading firearms that obtains energy from the motion of the cartridge case as it is pushed to the rear by expanding gases created by the ignition of the propellant charge.
   "In most actions that use blowback operation, the breech is not locked mechanically at the time of firing: the inertia of the bolt and recoil spring(s), relative to the weight of the bullet, delays opening of the breech until the bullet has left the barrel"
    
4. Unintended negative consequences from some action or policy
   "one can seriously suggest that the explosions in Morocco and Saudi Arabia represent the first stages of blowback from the Iraq invasion"

Derived forms: blowbacks

Type of: action, blowup, blow-up, detonation, explosion, misinfo [informal], misinformation

Encyclopedia: Blowback