behind

Less common meanings

12. 12
    bottom (body)nouncolloquialcountable

    The buttocks; the bottom or backside.

    The toddler sat down hard on her behind.

    Get off your behind and help me.

    UsageA mild, polite word: sit on your behind, get off your behind; buttocks is the clinical term.

    Similarbottom, backside, rear, butt, bum

    Note

    Mary Roach, who says she does not usually go in for euphemisms, singles out a man 'who says behind'. The word marks its speaker as mild. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Mary Roach says she does not usually use euphemisms and describes Fineg as a man who says “behind.” dl.ftveti.edu.et
13. 13
    time differencepreposition

    Later than someone or something in time.

    New York is five hours behind London.

    The train was running an hour behind its timetable.

    UsageWith a measure: five hours behind London, an hour behind schedule.

14. 14
    as a resultprepositioncolloquialUS

    Following; as a result of or because of.

    Half the block got evicted behind the new landlord.

    Don't stress yourself behind something so small.

    Similarover

    Note

    Something happens behind an event, such as a fight, a debt or an insult, as its consequence. Unlike the underlying-reason meaning, which usually attaches to a noun (the motive behind the crime), this one explains the whole clause it ends.

15. 15
    adverb

    Earlier in time or in a sequence; gone by.

    With the long winter behind, the town came alive again.

    What lies behind cannot be changed.

    Oppositeahead

    Note

    Time pictured as a road walked forward: the past lies behind and the future before. The 1611 Bible sets the two side by side: 'forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.' That pairing keeps before in its old sense of 'ahead'. With an object and a viewpoint (behind us), the meaning becomes the 'in the past' preposition. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • The King James Bible's first edition dates to 1611. bridwell.omeka.net
    • The quoted wording occurs in Philippians 3:13 in the King James Bible. en.wikisource.org
    • The passage uses behind for the past. en.wiktionary.org
    • Before has the older spatial or sequential sense 'ahead'. en.wiktionary.org
    • Behind with an object can mean 'in the past, from the viewpoint of'. en.wiktionary.org
16. 16
    slow (clock)adjective

    Of a watch or clock, slow; showing an earlier time than the true one.

    Set the clock forward, it's ten minutes behind.

    Her watch was behind, so she missed the bus.

    UsageUsed after a verb, often with an amount of time: the clock is five minutes behind.

    Similarslow

    Oppositefast

17. 17
    adverbarchaic

    Not yet brought forward, produced, or shown; out of sight or remaining.

    We cannot be sure that there is no evidence behind.

    1689, [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding

    Note

    An archaic adverb for what is held back rather than left over: something behind has not yet been brought forward. Locke writes in 1689 of being sure 'that there is no evidence behind, and yet unseen', meaning evidence not yet produced. A modern reader easily takes it as spatial. In current writing, still to come, undisclosed or remaining says the same thing without the trap. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Behind has an archaic adverbial sense describing something not yet produced or shown. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Essay appeared in 1689, but its first-edition title page is dated 1690 (MDCXC), the date required by the stated checking convention. en.wikisource.org
    • This is an unmarked abridgment. In An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, IV.16.3, Locke writes a longer sentence containing 'and that there is no evidence behind, and yet unseen'. en.wikisource.org
    • The evidence described as behind is evidence not yet available for consideration. en.wikisource.org
18. 18
    one-point scorenouncountable

    In Australian rules football, a one-point score made when the ball passes between a goal post and a behind post, hits a goal post, or is touched before passing between the goal posts.

    He kicked a behind when a goal would have won it.

    Three behinds in a row frustrated the crowd.

    Note

    Australian rules football counts in two units, and this is the smaller: a goal is worth six points, a behind one. Scores are often given in both units, so a goal and four behinds makes ten points. The word was already at home in the game's verse by 1880, when a comic poem's crowd roared 'for we've kicked another behind.' Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Australian rules football has two scoring units: goals worth six points and behinds worth one. afl.com.au
    • Scores report goals and behinds separately; one goal and four behinds total ten points. s.afl.com.au
    • The quoted line appears in verse describing a crowd's roar. en.wiktionary.org
19. 19
    adverbdated

    Backstage in a theater, out of the audience's sight.

    ‘After the performance was over I went behind, and spoke to her.’

    1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
20. 20
    nounslang

    In baseball of the 1800s, the catcher, the player positioned behind the batter.
21. 21
    noun

    In the Eton field game, any of three players: two shorts, who try to kick the ball over the bully, and a long, who guards the goal.