fall back

Verb

Synonyms: lag dawdle fall behind lose drop off recede resort recur relapse lapse recidivate regress

WordNet 3.0

Verb (6)

fall backwards and down
hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc.Synonyms: lag dawdle fall behind
move back and away from“The enemy fell back”
retreatSynonyms: lose drop off fall behind recede
have recourse to“The government resorted to rationing meat”Synonyms: resort recur
go back to bad behavior“Those who recidivate are often minor criminals”Synonyms: relapse lapse recidivate regress retrogress

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

fall back

<communications> A feature of a modem protocol where two modems which experience data corruption, e.g. due to line noise, can renegotiate to use a lower speed connection, possibly applying fall forward if the channel improves.

(2004-07-30)