“Behind bars” means being in prison or confined, often used figuratively to express feeling trapped. It’s not slang and is used by professionals. The saying has been used as an album name and an idiom. Its history is unknown, but it’s likely to last as long as prisons have bars.
Behind bars means someone or something is in prison or confined in some way. It is more often used to say that someone, rather than something, is in jail or in jail. Sometimes it is not used in the literal sense; for example, someone might say, “I’ve been put behind bars,” to signify that he feels confined or trapped in a situation. The saying is used because many prisons have barred walls, so the prisoner is literally behind bars. This saying is not usually seen as slang; is a term used by many journalists, educators, and other professionals.
“He was put behind bars for committing a crime,” is a literal use of the saying. Alternatively, a person might say, “He is behind bars for the rest of his life” or “You will end up behind bars if you continue to break the law.” These usages are especially common in the English-speaking world.
To use the expression figuratively, a person might say, “I’m behind bars in this cubicle” or “He put me behind bars by taking away my car keys.” In both cases, no one is actually behind bars in a cell, but the speaker expresses his discomfort by comparing the situation to being in prison. The amount of discomfort is usually exaggerated to get the speaker’s point of view. For example, the saying “I could eat a horse” simply means that the speaker is very hungry, not that he finds horses appetizing or that he could actually eat a whole one.
In the 20th century, the saying was used as a name for many things. For example, “Behind Bars” is the name of an album by rapper Slick Rick, also known as Richard Walters. The song was about being trapped in a life of drugs and alcohol. The text mentioned the feeling of being in a cell. It was released in 1994 and had some success on the music charts.
This saying can be used as an idiom because its use is not limited to the literal meaning. Idioms come and go and are generally considered part of a culture rather than a language. Like many modern sayings, the history of the saying is unknown. The saying could theoretically be as old as prison bars. Also, until prisons no longer have bars, the saying is likely to last for hundreds of years to come.
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