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back room

American  
Or backroom

noun

  1. a room located in the rear, especially one used only by certain people.

  2. a place where powerful or influential persons, especially politicians, meet to plan secretly or from which they exercise control in an indirect manner.

    The candidate for mayor was chosen in the precincts' back rooms.


back room British  

noun

    1. a place where research or planning is done, esp secret research in wartime

    2. ( as modifier )

      back-room boys

"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

Etymology

Origin of back room

First recorded in 1585–95