back street
noun
a street apart from the main or business area of a town.
Compare
side street.
Origin of back street
First recorded in 1630–40
Words nearby back street
back slang,
back staff,
back stairs,
back story,
back straight,
back street,
back stretch,
back talk,
back the wrong horse,
back to back,
back to basics
Definition for backstreet (2 of 2)
back-street
[ bak-street ]
/ ˈbækˌstrit /
adjective
taking place in secrecy and often illegally: back-street political maneuvering; back-street drug dealing.
Origin of back-street
First recorded in 1895–1900
Example sentences from the Web for backstreet
British Dictionary definitions for backstreet
backstreet
/ (ˈbækˌstriːt) /
noun
a street in a town remote from the main roads
(modifier)
denoting illicit activities regarded as likely to take place in such a street
a backstreet abortion
Idioms and Phrases with backstreet
back street
Also, back alley. A less prominent or inferior location; also, a scene of clandestine or illegal dealings. For example, The highway department is very slow to clear snow from the back streets, or Before they were made legal, abortions were often performed in back alleys. Although back street literally means “one away from the main or business area of a town or city,” this term, from the early 1600s, became associated with underhanded dealings, and back alley, from the mid-1800s, is always used in this sense.