|
|
Definition of Backstairs
1. Adjective. Secret and sly or sordid. "Furtive behavior"
2. Noun. A second staircase at the rear of a building.
Definition of Backstairs
1. a. Private; indirect; secret; intriguing; -- as if finding access by the back stairs.
Definition of Backstairs
1. Noun. A staircase at the rear of a building or one normally only used by servants and tradesmen. ¹
2. Noun. An indirect or furtive means of access or intercourse. ¹
3. Adjective. Secret or furtive. ¹
4. Adjective. Scandalous. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Backstairs
1. backstair [n] - See also: backstair
Lexicographical Neighbors of Backstairs
Literary usage of Backstairs
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Best British Short Stories of edited by John Cournos, Edward Joseph Harrington O'Brien (1922)
""Never met a man," he was wont to say, "with no backstairs to his mind! ...
the darker those backstairs!" It was up these stairs he craved to go. ..."
2. A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant: Embracing English, American, and Anglo by Albert Barrère, Charles Godfrey Leland (1889)
"There is no rule of the service so strict that it will not yield to backstairs,
or other influence.—Truth, April 36, 1888. Back talk (popular), no back talk ..."
3. Dictionary of National Biography by LESLIE. STEPHEN (1894)
"... who married, Once, we confess, beneath the patriot's cloak, From the cracked
bag the dropping guinea And jingling down the backstairs, told the crow, ..."
4. Macmillan's Magazine by David Masson, George Grove, John Morley, Mowbray Morris (1863)
"“I will take you up the backstairs: but I must bandage your eyes first; ...
For, if people only once found out that you had been up my backstairs, ..."
5. Books and Things: A Collection of Stray Remarks by George Slythe Street (1905)
"I have heard a man of letters, however, object to such an appointment, complaining
of the backstairs approach, and more especially of a dressing-room for ..."
6. The Heart of the Antarctic: Being the Story of the British Antarctic by Ernest Henry Shackleton (1909)
"Glacier: backstairs Passage : Results of Journey: How to spend a Week at the
Magnetic Pole IF one may be permitted to take a brief retrospect of our journey ..."
Other Resources:
