go back

phrasal verb
Word forms "go back":
present tense I/you/we/they go back he/she/it goes back present participle going back past tense went back past participle gone back

1) [intransitive] to return to a person, place, subject, or activity

It started to rain, so we decided to go back.

go back to:

We didn't think he'd go back to his wife after everything that's happened.

I'd like to go back to what Abby was saying just a minute ago.

She should be well enough to go back to work on Wednesday.

go back to doing something:

The computer breaks down and you go back to writing things down on pieces of paper.

go back for:

I'd left my keys in the office and had to go back for them.

2)

a) [intransitive/transitive] to have existed since or for a particular time

My interest in the subject goes back many years.

go back to:

Some of these houses go back to the early 19th century.

b) [transitive] spoken if two people go back a particular period of time, they have known each other for that period of time

We go back a long time, don't we?

3) [intransitive] British when schools or students go back, classes begin again after a long holiday

When do the kids go back?

4) [intransitive] British when the clocks go back, everyone changes the time on their clocks so that they show a time that is one hour earlier than before

Don't forget, the clocks go back this Sunday.