English [ edit ]

Alternative forms [ edit ]

Etymology [ edit ]

Coined as “Well, back to the old drawing board.” as the caption of a Peter Arno cartoon of The New Yorker of March 1, 1941, depicting an engineer walking away from a crashed plane.

Pronunciation [ edit ]

Audio (AU)

Adverb [ edit ]

back to the drawing board

( idiomatic ) Back to the beginning following an unsuccessful attempt. Well, that didn't work at all, so it's back to the drawing board, I guess.

Translations [ edit ]