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• under-the-counter
  under-the-counter

  adjective

  (of merchandise) sold clandestinely.
• under the counter
  under the counter

  Secretly, surreptitiously, as in I'm sure they're selling liquor to minors under the counter. This expression most often alludes to an illegal transaction, the counter being the flat-surfaced furnishing or table over which legal business is conducted. It was first recorded in 1926. Also see under the table.

under-the-counter

American  

[uhn-der-thuh-koun-ter] / ˈʌn dər ðəˈkaʊn tər /

adjective

1. (of merchandise) sold clandestinely.

2. illegal; unauthorized.

   under-the-counter payments.

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under the counter Idioms  

1. Secretly, surreptitiously, as in I'm sure they're selling liquor to minors under the counter. This expression most often alludes to an illegal transaction, the counter being the flat-surfaced furnishing or table over which legal business is conducted. It was first recorded in 1926. Also see under the table.

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Etymology

Origin of under-the-counter

First recorded in 1945–50

Explanation

Anything under-the-counter happens secretly — it's hush hush. All illegal drug deals are under-the-counter. An over-the-counter drug can be purchased without a doctor's prescription. The same is true of under-the-counter drugs, but look out: anything that happens under-the-counter is secret and possibly illegal, much like under-the-table payments. It can help you remember the meaning of this phrase if you remember that over-the-counter activities can be seen, while under-the-counter activities can't. Buying a bootleg DVD on the street is another under-the-counter transaction, whereas buying a DVD in a local store is an over-the-counter transaction.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

under-the-counter under the counter

Sales of chest freezers and under-the-counter freezers are up, a trend which normally happens in the run-up to Christmas as people stock up, the AO.com spokesperson added.

From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2020

You’ll want to find space for it in an under-the-counter cabinet.

From Slate ● Oct. 11, 2018

But what he saw was a team wasting tens of thousands of pounds in transfer fees, being found guilty of under-the-counter payments to players and then, in 1958, a first relegation.

From The Guardian ● May 10, 2013

To remain comfortable in their squeezed digs, the couple exchanged a full-size refrigerator for an under-the-counter model and allowed in the living room a “single piece of upholstered furniture”—a rocking chair.

From Slate ● Mar. 27, 2013

But in the U.S., they remain an under-the-counter item, sold in drugstores "for prevention of disease only," or peddled by vending machines in bars and filling stations.

From Time Magazine Archive

It reminds Shabana Mahmood of the years when she worked on the till in her parents' corner shop, with a cricket bat under the counter ready to deter shoplifters who stole, time and again.

From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2026

In one case, an employee saw the approaching agent and shoved 10 displayed basketballs under the counter, as if to be able to say, What basketballs?

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 18, 2023

Without saying a word, he reached under the counter, pulled out a tape measure and wrapped it around my head.

From New York Times ● Dec. 19, 2021

In his hotel, he discovers that the pipes under the counter are gone.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2021

She rummaged under the counter and brought out a package of chocolate-covered cakes that looked exactly like Ding Dongs.

From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan