Backstairs definition

Backstairs





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4 definitions found

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

  Backstairs \Back"stairs`\, Back stairs \Back" stairs`\
     (b[a^]k"st[^a]rz`) n.
     Stairs in the back part of a house, as distinguished from the
     {front stairs}; a second staircase at the rear of a building;
     hence, a private or indirect way.
     [1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5] Backstairs



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]:

  backstairs
       adj : secret and sly or sordid; "backstairs gossip"; "his low
             backstairs cunning"- A.L.Guerard; "backstairs
             intimacies"; "furtive behavior" [syn: {backstair}, {furtive}]
       n : a second staircase at the rear of a building

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  26 Moby Thesaurus words for "backstairs":
     back-door, clandestine, covert, feline, furtive, hidlings,
     hole-and-corner, hugger-mugger, privy, quiet, shifty, skulking,
     slinking, slinky, sly, sneaking, sneaky, stealthy, surreptitious,
     under-the-counter, under-the-table, undercover, underground,
     underhand, underhanded, unobtrusive
  
  

















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