backdoor
or back-door
[bak-dawr, -dohr]
- secret; furtive; illicit; indirect.
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Origin of backdoor
First recorded in 1605–15; adj. use of back door
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for backdoor
Contemporary Examples
Yet, after months of backdoor negotiations there was Xi, stone-facedly shaking hands with a smirking Abe.
In Kafr Kanna, because of the blocked highway exit, The Daily Beast was forced to use a backdoor entry to town.
That's happening thanks to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Survillence Act, the very "backdoor" discussed here.
The defenders of backdoor searches argue that the same rule should apply in the section 702 situation.
But he also would have helped to keep calls for a smaller federal government from being seen as a backdoor attempt at Jim Crow.
Historical Examples
It was as though he had walked round the house of literature, and peeped in at the backdoor.
A Great ManArnold Bennett
Instantly the backdoor assumed the chief position of interest.
The Leavenworth CaseAnna Katherine Green
So unhappy she was that George immediately planned her a backdoor of excuse.
Once Aboard The LuggerArthur Stuart-Menteth Hutchinson
Nor was there anything the least clandestine in this backdoor trade of Herman's on the Sabbath.
The Wrong TwinHarry Leon Wilson
The fire was built in the passage near the backdoor where I stood.
Word Origin and History for backdoor
adj.
also back-door, "devious, shady, illegal," 1640s. The notion is of business done out of public view. The noun back door in the literal sense is from 1520s, from back (adj.) + door. The association with sodomy is at least from 19c.; cf. also back-door man "a married woman's lover," black slang, early 20c.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper