setback
[′set‚bak] (building construction)
A withdrawal of the face of a building to a line toward the rear of the building line or the rear of the wall below in order to reduce obstruction of sunlight reaching the street or the lower stories of adjacent buildings.
(civil engineering)
The distance that a section of a building is set back from the property line as required by local zoning codes.
(mechanics)
The relative rearward movement of component parts in a projectile, missile, or fuse undergoing forward acceleration during its launching; these movements, and the setback force which causes them, are used to promote events which participate in the arming and eventual functioning of the fuse.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Setback
The upper section of a building, successively recessed, that produces a ziggurat effect, admitting light and air to the streets below.
Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
setback
The minimum distance between a reference line (usually a property line) and a building, or portion thereof, as required by ordinance or code.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.