back street
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noun
a street apart from the main or business area of a town.
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Mississippi’s nickname comes from the magnificent trees that grow there. What is it?
Compare side street.
Origin of back street
First recorded in 1630–40
Words nearby back street
backstitch, backstop, backstory, back straight, backstrap loom, back street, backstretch, backstroke, backstroker, backswept, backswimmer
Definition for back street (2 of 2)
back-street
[ bak-street ]
/ ˈbækˌstrit /
adjective
taking place in secrecy and often illegally: back-street political maneuvering; back-street drug dealing.
Origin of back-street
First recorded in 1895–1900
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
Example sentences from the Web for back street
British Dictionary definitions for back street
backstreet
/ (ˈbækˌstriːt) /
noun
a street in a town remote from the main roads
(modifier) denoting illicit activities regarded as likely to take place in such a streeta backstreet abortion
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
Idioms and Phrases with back street
back street
Also, back alley. A less prominent or inferior location; also, a scene of clandestine or illegal dealings. For example, The highway department is very slow to clear snow from the back streets, or Before they were made legal, abortions were often performed in back alleys. Although back street literally means “one away from the main or business area of a town or city,” this term, from the early 1600s, became associated with underhanded dealings, and back alley, from the mid-1800s, is always used in this sense.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
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