Definition of On the q.t.

1. Adverb. In secrecy; not openly. "They arranged to meet in secret"

Exact synonyms: In Secret, On The Qt, Secretly

Definition of On the q.t.

1. Adverb. (idiomatic) Quietly; in a secretive manner; clandestinely. ¹

2. Adverb. (alternative form of on the Q.T.) ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of On The Q.t.

on sight
on site
on someone's account
on spec
on steroids
on strike
on sufferance
on tap
on tap(p)
on tape
on target
on tender hooks
on tenterhooks
on that
on that point
on the Q.T.
on the QT
on the air
on the alert
on the alert(p)
on the anvil
on the average
on the back burner
on the back foot
on the back of
on the ball
on the bench
on the bias
on the blink
on the books

Literary usage of On the q.t.

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Studies in English, Written and Spoken: For the Use of Continental Students by Cornelis Stoffel (1894)
"—The phrase do the QT in the same quotation, is parallel with the phrase " to do a thing on the QT", where on the QT means "on the quiet" = 'on thr sly', ..."

2. Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present: A Dictionary, Historical and by John Stephen Farmer, William Ernest Henley (1902)
"Whatever I tell you is ON THE QT о for hälfe a farthing, and in Oxford when We asked him ON THE QT how it was. Bookes in Oxford and Cambridge the letter ..."

3. St. Nicholas by Mary Mapes Dodge (1915)
"... friends that he should get the powder, on the qt, load it on board his ship, and beat it while the going was good. The powder-magazine was in the ..."

4. Punch by Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Shirley Brooks, Francis Cowley Burnand, Owen Seaman (1879)
"Oh, my ! When the swells see our bottles and bits, I 've a notion some language '11 lly. It was on the QT, in a nook snugged away in a lot of old trees, ..."

5. The Encyclopaedia Britannica: “a” Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature edited by Hugh Chisholm (1911)
"WHITNEY, WILLIAM DWIGHT 0827-1894), American philologist, was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, on the Qt'h of February 1827. He was the fourth child and ..."

6. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis (1920)
"... it was strictly on the QT and not generally known outside of Washington—but just between ourselves—and they could take this for gospel—Spain had finally ..."

7. Year-book of the Royal Society of London by Royal Society (Great Britain) (1904)
"... and on the Qt Inorganic Matters abstracted from the Soil bj Plants under different circumstances." Phil. Tra 1846. James David Forbes. ..."

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