reel back

reel back (from something)

1. To stagger, fall back, or be thrown off balance (from some physical blow or impact). She reeled back from the uppercut her opponent delivered. I reeled back after knocking my head into top of the doorframe.
2. To be shocked, bemused, or unable to think clearly (due to an intense emotional reaction to something). I reeled back from the news that my younger brother had died. We all reeled back after hearing that we'd been selected to participate in the tournament.
See also: back, reel
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

reel back (from something)

to fall or stagger backwards, as from a blow. The boxer reeled back from the blow, stunned. Another blow to the midsection and he reeled back and fell.
See also: back, reel
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • come back and see us
  • back
  • back at (something or some place)
  • be/go back to square one
  • a while back
  • back door
  • back to square one
  • be back on the rails
  • come back anytime
  • burn one's bridges/boats, to
References in periodicals archive
15 only to reel back with a double-bogey on the 17th for a 67.
But PayMaya took the first two sets of Game Two, including an imposing romp in the second only to reel back in a pair of back-and-forth extended sets.
But reel back a hundred years and a similar revolution was taking place.
3 to regain control, only to reel back with a missed green bogey on the eighth for a 35-37 card.
'I am sure in coming days prices will reel back because it has already touched its peak and the buyers can no more comprise their viability at such high rates,' observed Naseem Usman a cotton analyst.
It takes Delhi days and weeks to reel back to normal life.
'There are no real incentives for now to reel back investors.
The fish was gone and that would have made an even better story if he had brought the fish up, but we were happy to get our rod and reel back. We thanked the captain and the diver and gave them a $100 reward.
Once the spooling operation is complete, the idler wheel can retract to lower the reel back onto the cradles which means that the drive and idler wheel units can be unbolted and moved to another reel and cradle on site for further operation.
Does the commissioning team reel back in amazement as you unveil your groundbreaking plans to include a PR-obsessed chief superintendent more interested in favourable headlines than the business of solving crimes?
In his imaginative, highly readable novel, Jon Boorstin winds the reel back to days when Tinseltown was alfalfa fields and dirt roads and a place where a kid captured by movie magic could find a niche in Mack Sennett's rough-hewn studio.
That was enough to get me straight back in my Time Machine, spinning the microfilm reel back to 2014.
Enrol, who ended last term with successive wins, started where she left off when reappearing at Doncaster and got into top gear in time to reel back Mississippi close home.
While the court battle was settled last week, the case hit a bump in the road on Monday when both sides appeared in court and Ravet told the judge he had not agreed to be a part of the settlement that required him to give the blooper reel back to Deen.
Thus one peacefully steaming afternoon I try to measure the depth and lower a spool of thread down one of the sanctuaries: after 47 spindles and 8 hours 23 minutes of dipping there's a nearly imperceptible jerk and when I finally manage to reel back the thread a strange oval-shaped grain of rice swings from the end.