Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

on the Q.T.

Idioms  

  1. Secretly, as in They told her on the Q.T. that she was being promoted. This slangy term, in which Q.T. is an abbreviation for “quiet,” was first recorded in 1884.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

If the note is straight goods I've got to work on the Q.T.

From The Big-Town Round-Up by Raine, William MacLeod

I'll admit it was all right at first to run the thing on the Q.T., but that's pretty well busted up by now.

From The Zeppelin's Passenger by Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)

"Putting on all they can on the Q.T.," was the response.

From Malcolm Sage, Detective by Jenkins, Herbert George

Then he went upstairs on the Q.T. and had a cup of coffee.

From A Bed of Roses by George, Walter Lionel

Will you be so kind as to impress him with the fact that this expedition is on the Q.T.?

From A Splendid Hazard by MacGrath, Harold

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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