Backstairs \Back"stairs`\, Backstair \Back"stair`\, a. Private; indirect; secret; conducted with secrecy; intriguing; -- as if finding access by the back stairs; as, backstairs gossip.
Syn: clandestine, cloak-and-dagger, hugger-mugger, hush-hush, on the quiet(predicate), secret, subterranean, surreptitious, undercover, underground. [1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5]
A backstairs influence. --Burke.
Female caprice and backstair influence. --Trevelyan.
Backstairs \Back"stairs`\, Back stairs \Back" stairs`\ (b[a^]k"st[^a]rz`) n. Stairs in the back part of a house, as distinguished from the {front stairs}; a second staircase at the rear of a building; hence, a private or indirect way. [1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5]