Backstair

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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) 2.0 [wn]:

  backstair
       adj : secret and sly or sordid; "backstairs gossip"; "his low
             backstairs cunning"- A.L.Guerard; "backstairs
             intimacies"; "furtive behavior" [syn: {backstairs}, {furtive}]