behind

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English behinde, behinden, from Old English behindan (“on the back side of, behind”), equivalent to be- +‎ hind.

Pronunciation

  • (preposition, adverb)
    • IPA(key): /bɪˈhaɪnd/, /bəˈhaɪnd/
    • Audio (US)(file)
    • Audio (UK)(file)
  • (noun)
    • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈbiːˌhaɪnd/, /bɪˈhaɪnd/
    • (UK) IPA(key): /bɪˈhaɪnd/, /bəˈhaɪnd/
  • Hyphenation: be‧hind

Preposition

behind

  1. At the back of; positioned with something else in front of.
    The car is behind the wall.
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175, page 035:
      But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶ […] The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window […], and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them.
    • 2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, “Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 18:
      Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.
  2. To the back of. (Can we clean up(+) this sense?)
  3. After, time- or motion-wise.
  4. responsible for
    Who is behind these terrorist attacks?
  5. In support of.
    The republicans are fully behind their candidate.
  6. Left a distance by, in progress or improvement; inferior to.
    I'm ranked sixth in the French class, behind five other pupils.
    • Bible, 2 Corinthians xi.5:
      I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Translations

after, time- or motion-wise
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Adverb

behind (comparative behinder or more behind, superlative behindest or most behind)

  1. At the back part; in the rear. (Can we clean up(+) this sense?)
    • Milton
      I shall not lag behind.
  2. Toward the back part or rear; backward.
    to look behind
  3. Overdue, in arrears.
    My employer is two paychecks behind on paying my salary.
    I'm two weeks behind in my schedule.
  4. Slow; of a watch or clock.
    My watch is four minutes behind.
  5. existing afterwards
    He left behind a legacy of death and sorrow.
    He stayed behind after the war.
    • Shakespeare
      Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, / And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, / Leave not a rack behind.
  6. Backward in time or order of succession; past.
    • Bible, Phil. ii. 13
      forgetting those things which are behind
  7. Behind the scenes in a theatre; backstage.
    • 1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Vintage 2007, page 68:
      ‘After the performance was over I went behind, and spoke to her.’
  8. (archaic) Not yet brought forward, produced, or exhibited to view; out of sight; remaining.
    • John Locke
      We cannot be sure that there is no evidence behind.

Usage notes

For usage in phrasal verbs, see Category:English phrasal verbs with particle (behind).

Translations

Noun

behind (plural behinds)

  1. the rear, back-end
  2. (informal) butt, the buttocks, bottom
  3. (Australian rules football) A one-point score.
    • 1880. "The Opening Ball" in Comic Australian Verse, ed. G. Lehmann, 1975. Quoted in G. A. Wilkes, A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms, second edition, 1985, Sydney University Press, →ISBN.
      A roar from ten thousand throats go up,
      For we've kicked another behind.
  4. (baseball, slang, 1800s) The catcher.
  5. In the Eton College field game, any of a group of players consisting of two "shorts" (who try to kick the ball over the bully) and a "long" (who defends the goal).

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Derived terms

References

  • Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Spatial particles of orientation", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8

Further reading

  • behind in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • behind in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
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