talk back

talk back (to one)

To answer, respond, or interrupt in a rude or impertinent manner; to sass. If you don't stop talking back like that, you'll be going to bed with no dinner! The student got detention for talking back to her teacher.
See also: back, talk
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

talk back (to someone)

to challenge verbally a parent, an older person, or one's superior. Please don't talk back to me! I've told you before not to talk back!
See also: back, talk
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

talk back

Also, answer back. Reply rudely or impertinently, as in She was always in trouble for talking back, or The teacher won't allow anyone to answer back to her. [Second half of 1800s]
See also: back, talk
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

talk back

v.
1. To respond to someone rudely or inappropriately: The servants were not supposed to talk back to their masters.
2. To make a hostile response: The enemy's guns are talking back.
3. To respond to a signal or transmission, especially through a path of electronic communication: My computer is sending information through the modem, but the network computer is not talking back.
See also: back, talk
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • talk back (to one)
  • sass back
  • smart off
  • None of your lip!
  • cut (someone or something) short
  • cut short
  • cut somebody short
  • cut something short
  • pull an attitude
  • pull an attitude (with one)
References in periodicals archive
Why French Children Don't Talk Back is New Yorker Crawford's account of how she tried to 'Frenchify' the raising of her two daughters.
BigRead
The Community Talk Back Event will take place at 7pm in Kirkby sports centre, Brookfield Campus, Southdene, Kirkby.
HAVE YOUR SAY AT DATE WITH COPS
A BBC source said last night: "Everyone has known this has been coming for some time but it really is the end of an era with David being moved from Talk Back.
NO MORE TALKING BACK FOR DUNSEITH; Hotseat goes to fellow veteran Wendy Austin
Similar to the "Clients Talk Back About Proposals" seminar held last March, this panel was composed of representatives, from both the public and private sectors, who are involved in evaluating and hiring A/E consultants.
'Clients Talk Back' seminar features real estate industry's leaders
I loved this teacher's classes because we got to talk back, and there was plenty of idiocy in the air.
Pro-choice?
If adorned with external sensors, microstimulators might not only listen and fire out commands but also talk back -- perhaps offering highly localized assays of a person's blood pressure, joint angle or tissue oxygenation, says Troyk.
Microstimulators serve as digital nerves
Fellow broadcaster and Seven Days presenter Wendy Austin is to take over his Talk Back hot seat as they swap roles.
ALL TALKED OUT; Dunseith leaves flagship show in shake-up at BBC
Joshua Gamson, a Yale sociology professor and author of Freaks Talk Back, a book about TV talk shows, agrees.
Homosexual panicking
Louis Horst (1884-1964), her longtime mentor and collaborator -- and one of the few people permitted to talk back to her -- was a notable loss; but even he emerges as a full-fledged character in these interviews.
Goddess: Martha Graham's Dancers Remember
So she can talk back to millions of little girls worldwide.
IT'S NO MORE DUMB BLONDE FOR BARBIE!; Top doll finally finds her voice
They needed the opportunity and the impulse to "talk back" to authority.
The Death of Common Sense