Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - backdoor

also back door 1. You can use backdoor to describe an action or process if you disapprove of it because you think it has been done in a secret, indirect, or dishonest way. He did the backdoor deals that allowed the government to get its budget through Parliament on time... He brushed aside talk of greedy MPs voting themselves a backdoor pay rise. = underhand ADJ: ADJ n c darkgreen]disapproval 2. If you say that someone is doing something through or by the backdoor, you disapprove of them because they are doing it in a secret, indirect, or dishonest way. Dentists claim the Government is privatising dentistry through the back door. N-SING: the N, usu prep N c darkgreen]disapproval