different between behind vs buttock

English

Alternative forms

• behine (archaic, AAVE)

Etymology

From Middle English behinde, behinden, from Old English behindan (“on the back side of, behind”), equivalent to be- +? hind. Compare Old Saxon bihindan (“behind”, adverb), Middle High German behinter (“behind; back”).

Pronunciation

• (preposition, adverb)
  • IPA^(key): /b??ha?nd/, /b??ha?nd/
• (noun)
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /?bi??ha?nd/, /b??ha?nd/
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /b??ha?nd/, /b??ha?nd/
• Hyphenation: be?hind

Preposition

behind

1. At the back of; positioned with something else in front of.
2. To the back of. (Can we clean up⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
3. After, time- or motion-wise.
4. responsible for

5. In support of.

6. Left a distance by, in progress or improvement; inferior to.
7. (nonstandard, US, slang) As a result or consequence of

Synonyms

• (at the back of): a-back (Chester), in back of, to the rear of.

Antonyms

• in front of

Derived terms

• behind every successful man there stands a woman

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?)
2. Toward the back part or rear; backward.

3. Overdue, in arrears.

4. Slow; of a watch or clock.

5. existing afterwards
6. Backward in time or order of succession; past.
7. Behind the scenes in a theatre; backstage.
8. (archaic) Not yet brought forward, produced, or exhibited to view; out of sight; remaining.

   • 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.
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

Derived terms

Related terms

• hind
• hiney

References

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

English

Etymology

From Middle English buttok, probably from Old English buttuc (“end; end piece”; also, “short piece of land”). Attested with its current anatomical meaning since 1300. A diminutive form of what is presumably the Old English precursor of butt +? -ock (diminutive suffix).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?b?t?k/, /?b?t?k/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?b?t?k/, [?b???k]

Noun

buttock (plural buttocks)

1. (usually in the plural) Each of the two large fleshy halves of the posterior part of the body between the base of the back, the perineum and the top of the legs.

   Synonyms: (crude) asscheek, cheek; see also Thesaurus:buttocks

2. (nautical) The convexity of a ship behind, under the stern.
   • 1925, Adventure, Volume 54

     There came a blast of freezing wind that made Skell shrug himself against the oaken post on which the ship's buttock rested.

Usage notes

The plural form is usually used in the singular sense for a single person's posterior, often called butt.It is rarer to refer to only a single buttock, which is then usually specified as left or right.

Derived terms

• quakebuttock

Translations

See also

• callipygian/callipygous
• dasypygal

References

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “buttock”, in Online Etymology Dictionary