'Backstair' definitions:
Definition of 'backstair'
(from WordNet)
adjective
Secret and sly or sordid; "backstairs gossip"; "his low backstairs cunning"- A.L.Guerard; "backstairs intimacies"; "furtive behavior" [syn: backstair, backstairs, furtive]
Definition of 'Backstair'
From: 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]