backlog

/ˈbæklɑg/

/ˈbæklɒg/

Other forms: backlogs; backlogged; backlogging

When you have extra work to do that keeps accumulating, you have a backlog. Sometimes people stay late at their jobs to take care of a backlog.

A backlog of tasks might slow down an ordinary day at an office or store, or require workers to come in on the weekend to catch up. In 1680, a backlog meant "a large log placed at the back of a fireplace," and by the 1880s it came to also mean "something stored for later use." It wasn't until the early 20th century that a backlog most often referred to "extra unfulfilled orders."

Definitions of backlog

1. noun

   an accumulation of jobs not done or materials not processed that are yet to be dealt with (especially unfilled customer orders for products or services)
   type of:

   accumulation, aggregation, assemblage, collection

   several things grouped together or considered as a whole
2. noun

   something kept back or saved for future use or a special purpose
   synonyms: reserve, stockpile

   types:

   bank

   a supply or stock held in reserve for future use (especially in emergencies)

   fuel level

   the amount of fuel remaining

   reserve account, reserve fund

   funds taken out of earnings to provide for anticipated future payments

   blood bank

   a place for storing whole blood or blood plasma

   eye bank

   a place for storing and preserving corneas that are obtained from human corpses immediately after death; used for corneal transplantation to patients with corneal defects

   food bank

   a place where food is contributed and made available to those in need

   soil bank

   land retired from crop cultivation and planted with soil-building crops; government subsidies are paid to farmers for their retired land

   hidden reserve

   reserves that do not show up on the balance sheet (as by understating values)

   pool

   any communal combination of funds

   allowance, allowance account, valuation account, valuation reserve

   a reserve fund created by a charge against profits in order to provide for changes in the value of a company's assets

   type of:

   accumulation

   (finance) profits that are not paid out as dividends but are added to the capital base of the corporation
3. verb

   accumulate and create a backlog
   type of:

   accumulate, amass, conglomerate, cumulate, gather, pile up

   collect or gather
4. noun

   the large log at the back of a hearth fire
   types:

   Yule log

   large log traditionally burned at Christmas

   type of:

   firewood

   wood used for fuel