(Harry opening his present from Hermione…)
His heart gave a huge bound as he ripped back the paper and saw a sleek black leather case, with silver words stamped across it, reading Broomstick Servicing Kit.
I couldn't find the definition of "rip back" from any dictionaries. It might not be a fixed collocation. I might think "rip away" could probably fit for the context. What does it truly mean?
Best Answer
"Back" is a relative direction, and when describing the process of unwrapping something (such as a wrapped gift, as in your example), or peeling back a layer of something (such as the peel on fruit) it is common to use the word "back" to denote that you are lifting something away from the surface of something else.
So for example:
or