also back-date, "assign a date to earlier than the actual one," by 1881 (implied in back-dated), from back (adv.) + date (v.1). Compare antedate. Related: Backdated; backdating.
Entries linking to backdate
back adv.
"to or toward the rear or the original starting place; in the past; behind in position," literally or figuratively, late 14c., shortened from abak, from Old English on bæc "backwards, behind, aback" (see back (n.), and compare aback). To give (something) back is to give it again, to give it in the opposite direction to that in which it was formerly given. Adverbial phrase back and forth is attested by 1814.
date v.1
c. 1400, daten, "to mark (a document) with a date," also "to assign to or indicate a date" (of an event), from date (n.1). Meaning "to mark as old-fashioned" is from 1895. Intransitive sense of "to have a date" is by 1850.
antedate v.
1580s, "to date before the true time," earlier as noun meaning "a backdating, false early date attached to a document or event" (1570s); from Latin ante "before" (from PIE root *ant- "front, forehead," with derivatives meaning "in front of, before") + date (v.1). The meaning "be of older date than" is from 1660s. Related: Antedated; antedating.