back-alley

[ bak-al-ee ]

adjective
  1. dirty, unprepossessing, sordid, or clandestine: back-alley morals; back-alley political schemes.

Origin of back-alley

1
An Americanism dating back to 1860–65

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use back-alley in a sentence

  • How slatternly the old back alley fence would look now that the parking system is adopted by neighbors.

    Revisiting the Earth | James Langdon Hill
  • Then, bleeding from his shoulder and with blood upon his beard, he made afresh for the passage leading to the back alley.

    The Scapegoat | Hall Caine
  • A man may live in the back alley of life or on the boulevard, according to the dictates of the spirit.

    The Vitalized School | Francis B. Pearson

Other Idioms and Phrases with back-alley

back-alley

see under back street.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.