Dictionary

hole-and-corner en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. Conducted in secret; clandestine.
   • The Baron rather frowned on such things, thinking them injudicious at the present stage of affairs, so His Highness had to go about them in a hole and corner manner. 1925, Agatha Christie, The Secret of Chimneys:
   • Whatever made you think in the first place that I would give up the security of my happy marriage for a hole-and-corner affair with you? 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, page 90:

Synonyms

cloak-and-dagger