BACKPEDAL

[verb] [I] -ll- or US usually -l- - to pedal backwards on a bicycle, or (figurative) to change an opinion that you had expressed before, or do something different from what you had said you would doSome types of bike have brakes which you operate by backpedalling.(figurative) As soon as I said I thought she was wrong, she started backpedalling.(figurative) He said he'd help, but now he's starting to backpedal (on his promise). [I]