Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb & adjective On the shoulders or back.
  • adverb & adjective By or relating to a method of transportation in which truck trailers are carried on trains, or cars on specially designed trucks.
  • adverb & adjective In connection with something larger or more important.
  • noun The act of transporting piggyback.
  • intransitive verb To cause to be aligned with an issue, for example, that is larger or more important.
  • intransitive verb To function as if carried on the back of another.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective On somebody's back or shoulders.
  • adverb On somebody's back or shoulders.
  • verb transitive To attach or append something to another (usually larger) object or event.
  • verb transitive, Internet To obtain a wireless internet connection by bringing one's own computer within the range of another's wireless connection without that subscriber's permission or knowledge.
  • verb transitive, Internet Utilizing last mile wiring (not wireless slang) rented from a larger owner ISP by a smaller ISP, last milers are obligated to sell to competitors in places like Canada.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb haul truck trailers loaded with commodities on railroad cars
  • verb haul by railroad car
  • verb ride on someone's shoulders or back
  • verb support on the back and shoulders
  • adverb on the back or shoulder or astraddle on the hip
  • noun the act of carrying something piggyback
  • adverb on a railroad flatcar
  • verb bring into alignment with

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of dialectal pig back, alteration of pickaback, pickback, pick pack : probably dialectal pick, to throw (variant of pitch) + back or pack.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

A corruption of pickaback, itself a corruption of pick-pack, like a pack.

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Examples

  • Some terms piggyback off of older technologies, some re-define pre-existing words.

    WiredPen 2009

  • Such projects, called piggyback or hosted payloads, have been gaining prominence as a relatively fast and inexpensive way to meet fast-growing demands for bandwidth from the Pentagon and other U.S. and foreign governmental agencies.

    Boeing to Begin Selling Commercial-Satellite Capacity Andy Pasztor 2011

  • Others flocked to so-called piggyback loans, which allowed them to finance as much as 100% of a home's value by combining a mortgage with a home-equity loan.

    Lenders Rethink 2008

  • The so-called piggyback loans are the riskiest of this home-equity debt.

    Home-Equity Woes Tarry 2008

  • Or you can take out a second loan, known as a piggyback, with a higher rate.

    Buying your first home can be intense 2006

  • Ms. Costa also maintains that no one ever explained to her that she was actually signing on to two loans to cover 100% of the home price: a $570,400 primary mortgage and a $142,600 so-called piggyback loan for the remaining 20% of the house's price.

    How the Subprime Mess 2007

  • Closed-end second-lien mortgage loans, or so-called piggyback loans, allow buyers to entirely fund the purchase of a home without putting any of their money down.

    S&P Cuts Ratings of Risky Home Loans 2007

  • During the peak of the housing boom, many borrowers got around this requirement by taking out a so-called piggyback mortgage, which combined a mortgage with a home-equity loan or line of credit.

    Mortgage Pain Hits 2007

  • "A mechanical left ventricular assist device LVAD, which would replace the function of his left heart and allow him to then go on to a standard heart transplant in a few months; or the so called "piggyback" transplant, which replaces the patient's left heart and allows the patient's right heart to continue the right-sided pumping through the lungs," Copeland said.

    FOXNews.com 2011

  • In this speech he also praised piggyback mortgages and HELOCs [home equity lines of credit] used as piggyback loans: "Highly leveraged home purchasers tend to use so-called piggyback mortgages; that is, second liens originated at the time of purchase."

    Safehaven Safehaven.com 2010

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