backwater

noun

1. water held or forced back, as by a dam, flood, or tide.
2. a place or state of stagnant backwardness: This area of the country is a backwater that continues to resist progress.
3. an isolated, peaceful place.
4. a stroke executed by pushing a paddle forward, causing a canoe to move backward.

noun

1. a body of stagnant water connected to a river
2. water held or driven back, as by a dam, flood, or tide
3. an isolated, backward, or intellectually stagnant place or condition

verb back water

4. (intr) to reverse the direction of a boat, esp to push the oars of a rowing boat

n.

late 14c., “water behind a dam,” from back (adj.) + water (n.). Hence flat water without a current near a flowing river, as in a mill race (1820); figurative use of this for any flat, dull place is from 1899.