secret admirer

[see-krit ad-mahyuhr-er]

noun

1. a person who is romantically attracted to someone else but shows it only in a way that does not reveal their own identity, as by sending anonymous gifts or messages.

   I found an unsigned valentine on my desk from a secret admirer.

2. a person who esteems or has a high opinion of someone or something but hides this fact from others.

   Only after his death, when his diaries were discovered, did we learn that he was a secret admirer of opera.

Word History and Origins

Origin of secret admirer¹

First recorded in 1600–10