behind vs tail

behind

noun
  • The buttocks, bottom, butt. 

  • 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). 

  • The rear, back-end. 

  • A one-point score. 

  • The catcher. 

adv
  • Behind the scenes in a theatre; backstage. 

  • At or in the rear or back part of something. 

  • So as to come after someone or something in position, distance, advancement, ranking, time, etc. 

  • So as to be still in place after someone or something has departed or ceased to exist. 

  • In a rearward direction. 

  • Backward in time or order of succession; past. 

adj
  • Slow. 

  • Not advanced to the required or expected degree; overdue or in arrears. 

prep
  • As a result or consequence of. 

  • Responsible for, being the creator or controller of. 

  • After in developmental progress, score, grade, etc.; inferior to. 

  • After in time. 

  • In the past, from the viewpoint of. 

  • Concealed by (something serving as a facade or disguise). 

  • After in physical progress or distance. 

  • In support of. 

  • Underlying, being the reason for or explanation of. 

  • At or to the back or far side of. 

tail

noun
  • The buttocks or backside. 

  • All the last terms of a sequence, from some term on. 

  • A downy or feathery appendage of certain achens, formed of the permanent elongated style. 

  • Sexual intercourse. 

  • Synonym of pigtail (“a short length of twisted electrical wire”) 

  • A train or company of attendants; a retinue. 

  • The side of a coin not bearing the head; normally the side on which the monetary value of the coin is indicated; the reverse. 

  • A portion of an incision, at its beginning or end, which does not go through the whole thickness of the skin, and is more painful than a complete incision; called also tailing. 

  • The part of a distribution most distant from the mode; as, a long tail. 

  • A filamentous projection on the tornal section of each hind wing of certain butterflies. 

  • Limitation of inheritance to certain heirs. 

  • One of the strips at the end of a bandage formed by splitting the bandage one or more times. 

  • The feathers attached to the pygostyle of a bird. 

  • The back, last, lower, or inferior part of anything. 

  • The penis of a person or animal. 

  • A tailing. 

  • The caudal appendage of an animal that is attached to its posterior and near the anus. 

  • The distal tendon of a muscle. 

  • The bottom or lower portion of a member or part such as a slate or tile. 

  • One who surreptitiously follows another. 

  • The tail-end of an object, e.g. the rear of an aircraft's fuselage, containing the tailfin. 

  • The part of a note which runs perpendicularly upward or downward from the head; the stem. 

  • The lower order of batsmen in the batting order, usually specialist bowlers. 

  • The lower loop of the letters in the Roman alphabet, as in g, q or y. 

  • The rear structure of an aircraft, the empennage. 

  • The stern; the back of the kayak. 

  • An object or part of an object resembling a tail in shape, such as the thongs on a cat-o'-nine-tails. 

  • The visible stream of dust and gases blown from a comet by the solar wind. 

  • A rope spliced to the strap of a block, by which it may be lashed to anything. 

  • The latter part of a time period or event, or (collectively) persons or objects represented in this part. 

verb
  • To hold by the end; said of a timber when it rests upon a wall or other support; with in or into 

  • To swing with the stern in a certain direction; said of a vessel at anchor. 

  • To follow and observe surreptitiously. 

  • To follow or hang to, like a tail; to be attached closely to, as that which can not be evaded. 

  • To pull or draw by the tail. 

adj
  • Limited; abridged; reduced; curtailed. 

How often have the words behind and tail occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )