behind, prep. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

behind prep.

1. (orig. US) involved with, concerned about, believing in.

1930		W.R. Burnett Iron Man 22: The fans are behind him, in spite of his colour.
1968		N. von Hoffman We are the People Our Parents Warned Us Against 89: I’m behind everything, grass, acid, STP, speed, alcohol.
1970		D. Mitchell Thumb Tripping (1971) 93: The others weren’t into methedrine [...] They were behind dex.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 9: People were getting behind marriage again.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 229: behind 1. Because of. 2. Involved with, in sympathy with.

2. (US black) as a result of, as a consequence of, in reference to.

1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 39: I’d get mad behind anybody goofing over you.
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 107: I even got religion once. I steady schemed on that church [...] Domino, they gave me a parole behind it.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 15: Only junk comin’ in is [...] behind them spook Air Force sergeants from Nam.
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 53: I don’t like the way I talk behind that shit.
1989		A. Vachss Hard Candy (1990) 162: The guys who bet with us thought we got lucky behind an OD.
1997		Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 179: By Fran’s reckoning [he] should still be locked up behind that charge.
2000		G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 105: You got no bank account, Lonnie, so don’t be frontin’ behind that shit.
2002		Simon & Burns ‘The Detail’ Wire ser. 1 ep. 2 [TV script] It’s wrong, you know, that they lost their daddy behind what happened.
2010		K. Richards Life 487: You couldn’t tour behind a record like the old days.
2010		L. Berney Gutshot Straight [ebook] He was doing a dozen years behind a first-degree manslaughter charge.

3. (orig. US) in full understanding of.

1969		L. Yablonsky Hippie Trip 191: He should leave because he’s not behind it enough to stay.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1986		implied in get behind

4. (orig. US) excited by, obsessed with.

1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 110: in love with a person [...] hung up behind one (‘You’re only hung up behind him because he has tattoos on his tool.’).
1979		H. Feldman et al. Angel Dust 78: Getting ‘fucked up’ (very high and rowdy) (‘behind’) on a drug.

In phrases

get behind (v.) [the image of putting one’s weight behind]

1. (US) to start smoking or drinking.

1874		J.H. Carter Log of Commodore Rollingpin 15: Dennis soon found himself stationed behind ten cents’ worth of a two-bit Havana [HDAS].
1970		Playboy Feb. 29: Get behind an A & C Grenadier [i.e. a cigar] [HDAS].

2. to make a commitment to an idea, a job, a person etc.

1903		N.-Y. Trib. 20 Sept. n.p.: Irrespective of party, good citizens should get behind candidates who are clean and honest [DA].
1972		Hall & Adelman Gentleman of Leisure 19: The minimum in an institution is nine months, but the superintendent and the supervisor got behind me and I only stayed for four.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 16: She ‘couldn’t get behind one-hour lunch breaks’.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 239: get behind 1. Get involved with. 2. Get interested in.

3. (also groove behind) to understand, to enjoy, to appreciate [groove v. (2)].

1970		A. Young Snakes (1971) 33: I be’s groovin behind what’s swishin round up in my dome, dig it?
1977		C. McFadden Serial 90: Wait till you taste Melior [...] You won’t be able to get behind Chex any more.
1977		J. Sayles Union Dues (1978) 277: You get behind what I’m sayin’?
1986		R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 154: Some jerkoff wanting footage of his woman getting fucked and having it off with another woman. So, all right, she could get behind that.
2012		M. McBride Frank Sinatra in a Blender [ebook] Frank was just expressing himself and that was an idea I could get behind.
2015		S. King Finders Keepers (2016) 29: I could get behind some of those peanut butter crackers.

SE in slang uses

In phrases

behind a dime (adv.) [SAmE dime, the tiny ten-cent coin; i.e. there is no way such a person can ‘hide’]

(US) to any extent, under any circumstances; usu. in phr. I wouldn’t trust (someone) behind a dime.

1981

W. Safire On Language 18 Jan. [synd. col.] Behind a dime, absolutely anywhere, as in ‘I wouldn’t trust him behind a dime.’.

behind of God speed

see back of God speed under back adv.

behind one’s door (also behind the door)

(UK prison) locked up in solitary confinement; also as an order, behind your doors! get into your cell!

1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 2: Behind the door: In prison.
1970		T. Parker Frying-Pan 103: Any daft trivial thing I can think of [...] to make sure I’m not behind my own door before everyone else is.
1998		J. Hoskison Inside 36: Every officer in the place threw themselves into the mêlée, screaming Behind your doors!
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 274: You’re doing life plus twenty, hard time, behind the door.
2020		Twitter 1 Oct. 🌐 Never a big fan of legal analysis from an old lag. You tend to think they wouldn’t have ended up behind the door if they were so smart.

behind oneself (adj.) [SE behind, backward]

out of date, out of fashion, not up with the latest situation.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.

behind someone like a slave-driver (adj.) (also behind someone like a tak-tak) [the tak-tak or acoushi ant, a fierce pest]

(W.I.) begging, harassing, pressurizing.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

behind the parade (adj.)

(orig. US black) old-fashioned, passé.

1920

Ade Hand-made Fables 256: Evidently you are behind the Parade.

behind the ramp [the ramp implies some form of desk]

a phr. describing anyone in authority, esp. a police officer or prison warder.

1989

in G. Tremlett Little Legs 192: behind the ramp someone in authority; prison officers; housing officers; policemen behind a reception desk – the ramp is the obstacle between them and the citizen.

behind the scale (n.) [drugs are bought in bulk then weighed out in smaller measures for sale; the image is of a small shopkeeper behind the counter]

(US black) a drug seller’s place of business, thus the weighing and selling of the drug.

1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 18: I know I fucked up and made some vicious mistakes when I was behind the scale.
1992		T. Williams Crackhouse 82: One night I went and there was this little kid behind the scale who I didn’t know. [Ibid. ] 146: behind the scale – weighing and selling cocaine.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 3: Behind the scale — To weigh and sell cocaine.

behind the walls (adv.) (also inside the walls)

(US Und.) in prison.

1972		E. Shrake Strange Peaches 311: Eight fucking years in Huntsville behind that wall for smoking a native weed that grows wild.
1977		(con. 1960s) D. Goines Black Gangster (1991) 20: No way for [...] you to go behind the walls [...] without being touched up.
1989		A. Vachss Hard Candy (1990) 10: he man who helped raise me inside the walls.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 5: Behind the Walls Almost every maximum security prison has a concrete or brick wall, ranging in height from 25 to 40 feet surrounding the prison grounds. These prisons are known as the walls. Inmates in these institutions are referred to as being in the walls or behind the walls.
2002		G. Pelecanos Hell to Pay 116: He didn’t want to go down on something as mundane as grand theft. A charge like that was a bitch charge, and it bought you no respect inside the walls.
2012		G. Pelecanos (con. 1972) What It Was 108: You get inside those walls, you learn.

go behind something (v.)

(US black) to argue with something, to contradict the facts.

1942

Z.N. Hurston ‘Story in Harlem Sl.’ in Novels and Stories (1995) 1001: You can’t go behind a fact like that.