under the rose
English
Etymology
Calque of Latin sub rosā.
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Adverb
under the rose
- (idiomatic) In secret; secretly, privately. [from 16th c.]
- 1860, Ellen Wood, East Lynne, Penguin 2005, page 10:
- ‘If you become the purchaser of the East Lynne estate, Mr Carlyle, it must be under the rose.’
- 1861, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, quoted by Fiona MacCarthy (2011) in The Last Pre-Raphaelite, Faber, →ISBN, page 130:
- We are organising (but this is quite under the rose as yet) a company for the production of furniture and decoration of all kinds, for the sale of which we are going to open an actual shop!
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