Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
under the counter en · ADJ
Meanings
-
(Ireland, UK, colloquial) In an underhand way, sneakily; unofficially, particularly with regard to payment or tax avoidance.
This morning he said he could not remember exactly where or how the invoice was written. It was used to cover up an under the counter payment from the sale of his land in Lucan.
2003 September 19, “Lawlor questioned at Planning probe”, in RTE News:
Forms
Relateds
over the counter · off the books · under the table · nixer
Translations (6)
fi pimeä (unofficially) · cmn 私下的 (unofficially) · it fraudolento (unofficially) · it illecito (unofficially) · it irregolare (unofficially) · pl nielegalny (unofficially)
under the counter en · ADV
Meanings
-
Illicitly, against regulations, of goods kept under the serving counter in a shop to be unobtrusively passed to a customer who knows they are available for surreptitious sale (e.g. pornographic magazines in a newsagent).
Sanguette used to be widely available in France, specifically in what was Occitania, i.e. roughly the southernmost third of the country. Today, because stringent laws govern the slaughter of animals, it is only to be found under the counter in country markets.
2017, Jonathan Meades, “Sanguette”, in The Plagiarist in the Kitchen: A Lifetime’s Culinary Thefts, London: Unbound, →ISBN, page 109:1969 The Seven Minutes: A Novel - Page 157 by Irving Wallace
Oh, yeah, I remember, you mean about me not trying to sell from under the counter?
2004, James Carlos Blake, Under the Skin, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 55,
When Prohibition became the law, they produced the stuff in greater quantity and sold it under the counter to anybody who wanted it.
Forms
Translations (11)
it sottobanco (illicitly) · it illecitamente (illicitly) · it subdolamente (illicitly) · ru и́з-под полы́ (illicitly) · fr sous le comptoir (illicitly) · cmn 非法地 (illicitly) · pl nielegalnie (illicitly) · de unter dem Ladentisch (illicitly) · it fraudolento (illicitly) · fi tiskin alta (illicitly) · hu pult alatt (illicitly)