stand back

stand back

To remain in or move to a position away from something, especially if it is dangerous. Please stand back from that television—you'll hurt your eyes being so close to it. Police officers are urging onlookers to stand back as animal control attempts to sedate the mountain lion.
See also: back, stand
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

stand back (from someone or something)

to stand or move well away and to the rear of someone or something. Stand back from Sam. He is really angry. Would you please stand back from the edge?
See also: back, stand
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

stand back

v.
To assume or maintain a position away from something, especially to be out of harm's way: Stand back; that container is about to explode. The crowd stood back from the accident site.
See also: back, stand
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • you'll catch your death
  • you'll catch your death (of cold)
  • go all out
  • go all out for something
  • bark at the moon
  • bay at the moon
  • howl
  • insure against
  • insure against (something)
  • you'll never guess
References in periodicals archive
Folk all colored from pale and yellow to midnight blue-black never just stand back and watch they gon' say it how they see it how they feel 'bout everything and then some from roaches to do-rags from daddy-do right to David Ku-Klux Duke to sisters wringing the barest budget for another meal So, here's a taste begun in a roux sauteed in lines like "trust a man as far as you can see him 'cause you know stiff stuff don't have no conscience"
Word works
No one with an ounce of humanity can stand back and allow this to happen - and Labour won't.
Let's defeat ugly plan to attack the vulnerable
Yet at the same time how can we stand back and do nothing?
Dilemma of Syria; LETTERS; We cannot ignore the horror of chemical warfare but can we risk getting involved?
Brian and Dappy stand back to back on this track - May lends his excellent guitar skills, whilst Dappy spits the lyrics.
SPIN CITY WITH BREAKFAST'S DAN & KATY
The situation with Bombardier is farcical, as they stand back and do nothing to support the firm who are losing a contract to a German rival because of stupid EU rules.
Stand up to EU; Yourview
Cue Phillip Schofield: "Stand back, stand back, she's gonna blow...
Holly adds a cleavage cliffhanger
If everything else fails, we cannot stand back and watch violence erupt.
Brit troops could be sent to Congo
"Joey pulled him out of the way and said 'Stand back, Sam, I'll save you.'
WALES: Fire hero Joey's a real chip off the old block
Home Secretary John Reid yesterday ripped up the timetable over police force mergers, saying he was prepared to "stand back a little" on plans to force through the measures by next year.
Police mergers delayed by Reid
Plans for a North-east police superforce are on hold after Home Secretary John Reid announced he was prepared to "stand back a little".
Police merger on hold
"I hope it's the sort of game where I can just stand back and let them play - but that's up to the players."
Football: Ref Wiley calls for Cup classic; FA CUP COUNTDOWN TO THE FINAL
We could either come close and graze the surface of a mural-size work as if it were a miniature, reading its diminutive inscriptions but forgoing our desire to grasp it whole, or we could stand back to get the overall effect, thereby missing the details of the rich graffiti.
Cy Twombly: Gagosian Gallery
Better stand back Here's an age attack, But the second in line Is dealing with it fine.
ON THE RECORD For the 21st birthday of HRH Prince William
And the Friends of Stanley Park want the club to stay - by either turning the ground around or moving the main stand back 400 yards.
Your letters: Swanning off
Being able to stand back from the city restores its three dimensionality: the greying of its edges round it, emphasize its mass, and its density, unifying it into a solidity which belies its fragmented reality, as experienced when in among it.
The city as sculpture. (Academy Forum)