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

backstairs \back"stairs`\, back stairs \back" stairs`\
   ba^k"st^arz` 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
see also:
front stairs 

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

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 quietpredicate, secret, subterranean,
        surreptitious, undercover, underground.
        1913 webster + wordnet 1.5

              a backstairs influence.             --burke.
        1913 webster

              female caprice and backstair influence.
                                                  --trevelyan.
        1913 webster

[3] : WordNet (r) 2.0

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
see also:
backstair furtive 

[4] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

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

Backstairs >> B Words
Backstairs, definition of term: Backstairs
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