wayback machine

See also: Wayback Machine

English

Etymology

From the WABAC machine in the animated cartoon Mister Peabody, from way back (“long ago”). According to Gerard Baldwin, one of the show's directors, the spelling was a reference to the UNIVAC I computer.

Noun

wayback machine (plural wayback machines)

1. A time machine or other means of revisiting information about the past.
   • 2008, Terry Thompson, Adventures in Graphica, →ISBN:

     I can't set Mr. Peabody's wayback machine to July 1, 1863, and take my entire class of fifth graders on a field trip to show them what the Battle of Gettysburg was like. I don't have a wayback machine.

   • 2008, Lew Freedman, The 50 Greatest Plays in Chicago Bears Football History, →ISBN, page 42:

     The star middle linebacker, who will go down in history as one of the Bears' best and most popular players, willingly jumped in the wayback machine and stopped it on a game during his second NFL season.

   • 2014, Michael Waldman, The Second Amendment: A Biography, →ISBN, page 111:

     Reduced to its core, originalism promises that judges can ride a constitutional wayback machine, taking orders from the esteemed Founders.

   • 2014, Michael Mowbray, Shoot to Thrill: Speedlight Flash Techniques for Photographers, →ISBN:

     So let's set the wayback machine to 2009 to show an example of what I was doing back then.

Derived terms

• Wayback Machine