under-the-table
transacted in secret or in an underhanded manner.
Origin of under-the-table
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use under-the-table in a sentence
Refugees are barred from working, so many find under-the-table jobs that offer little pay and poor conditions.
The existing industry is built on crime and under-the-table economics.
They were not more than four or five inches thick, but that is the ideal height for an under-the-table cushion.
The House in Good Taste | Elsie de Wolfe"A regular hero," Williams testified suddenly, in his concealed, from-under-the-table tone.
Romance | Joseph Conrad and F.M. Hueffer
British Dictionary definitions for under the table
(under-the-table when prenominal) done illicitly and secretly
slang drunk
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with under-the-table
In secret, as in They paid her under the table so as to avoid taxes. This term alludes to money being passed under a table in some shady transaction, such as a bribe. [Mid-1900s] Also see under the counter.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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