'Backstairs' definitions:

Definition of 'backstairs'

(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]
noun
A second staircase at the rear of a building

Definition of 'Backstairs'

From: 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

Definition of 'Backstairs'

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]

Words containing 'Backstairs'