Word Study
backstairs
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun backstairs has 1 sense
- backstairs(n = noun.artifact) Array - a second staircase at the rear of a building; Array is a kind of staircase, stairway
Adjective backstairs has 1 sense
- backstairs(s = adj.all) backstair, furtive - secret and sly or sordid; "backstairs gossip"; "his low backstairs cunning"; "backstairs intimacies"; "furtive behavior"
CIDE DICTIONARY
backstairs, 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]
backstairs, a.
Private; indirect; secret; conducted with secrecy; intriguing; -- as if finding access by the back stairs; as, backstairs gossip. [1913 Webster]
"A backstairs influence."
[1913 Webster]
"Female caprice and backstair influence."
[1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
backstairs, n.pl.
1 stairs at the back or side of a building.
2 (also backstair) (attrib.) denoting underhand or clandestine activity.
1 stairs at the back or side of a building.
2 (also backstair) (attrib.) denoting underhand or clandestine activity.
THESAURUS
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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