brush pass

American  

[bruhsh pas] / ˈbrʌʃ ˌpæs /

noun

1. any of various methods by which a physical item is passed surreptitiously from one intelligence agent to another as they walk past each other, typically in a crowd where their movements are difficult to observe.

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Etymology

Origin of brush pass

First recorded in 1985–90

Example Sentences

It portrays a black senior official addressing a class of new recruits and an African-American case officer doing a secret brush pass to hand off a thumb drive.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2020

Then he slipped it into her pocket using a perfectly executed brush pass.

From "City Spies" by James Ponti

Their weapons were the tradecraft of spies—the dead drop, the brush pass, the one-time pad—and their missions almost always had the same goal: to obtain vital information about the enemy.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau