The DICT Development Group
2 definitions found
for Backstair
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :
Backstairs \Back"stairs`\, Backstair \Back"stair`\, a.
Private; indirect; secret; conducted with secrecy;
intriguing; -- as if finding access by the back stairs; as,
backstairs gossip.
Syn: clandestine, cloak-and-dagger, hugger-mugger, hush-hush,
on the quiet(predicate), secret, subterranean,
surreptitious, undercover, underground.
[1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5]
A backstairs influence. --Burke.
[1913 Webster]
Female caprice and backstair influence.
--Trevelyan.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) :
backstair
adj 1: secret and sly or sordid; "backstairs gossip"; "his low
backstairs cunning"- A.L.Guerard; "backstairs
intimacies"; "furtive behavior" [syn: backstair,
backstairs, furtive]
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