hole-in-the-corner

Shady and secretive, typically to hide illicit activity. Primarily heard in UK. You can be sure there's some hole-in-the-corner activities going on in that private club. A: "Use this cell phone if you need to contact me." B: "Wow, OK, so we're going full hole-in-the-corner with this investigation, huh?" I know I said I wanted to meet you in private, but you didn't have to be so hole-in-the-corner about it. A parking garage isn't what I had in mind.

hole-in-the-corner

hole-and-corner

BRITISH, OLD-FASHIONED

If you describe an activity or an event as hole-in-the-corner or hole-and-corner, you mean that it is kept secret, usually because it is dishonest or shameful. You deserve better than a hole-in-the-corner relationship like this. His visit was a hole-and-corner affair, and treated like a guilty secret.

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

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References in periodicals archive

He said there was no hole-in-the-corner cover-up in an attempt to mislead the Commons.

He said, "Ours have not been the actions of people engaged in a hole-in-the-corner cover-up."

Heseltine's savage bid to sink Ponting; RETRO REPORT FEBRUARY 1985 - How we covered..

He said, 'Ours have not been the actions of people engaged in a hole-in-the-corner cover- up.'

RETRO REPORT-FEBRUARY, 1985:Heseltine's savage bid to sink Ponting

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