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  1. sub rosa love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adv. In secret; privately or confidentially: held the meeting sub rosa.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Under the rose; privately. The rose is the emblem of silence.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Carried out secretly or confidentially
  2. adv. In secret or covertly; privately or confidentially
  3. n. Slang. Used in Workers' Compensation cases to mean covert surveillance video used to catch Workers' Compensation applicants and show that they are in fact not injured. Also spelled subrosa.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adv. in secret or covertly

Etymologies

  1. First attested 1654, from Latin sub rosā ("under the rose"), from sub ("under") + rosā ("rose"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Latin sub rosā, under the rose (from the practice of hanging a rose over a meeting as a symbol of confidentiality) : sub, under + rosā, ablative of rosa, rose. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “You will remember that there was nothing sub rosa about Gregori's arrival in this country — it sparked off a minor international crisis, the Italians being hopping mad that one of their top-notch bio-chemists should turn his back on his own country and go to work in Britain.”

    The Satan Bug

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reverse dictionary (2)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. sub rosa
  1. rose

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  • lampbane The worst episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Sometimes things aren't just bad, they're Sub Rosa-bad. Oct 27, 2008

  • bilby "The similarity was eerie precise because there was on one thing the protesting, horrified eye could pin it on. It was sub rosa, deeply buried between the lines, but so real it shrieked: that trick of crossing the feet during the stretch, of splaying the fingers stiffly beside either thigh, the tight little crinkle of the eyes."
    - 'The Dark Half', Stephen King. Dec 31, 2007

  • seanmeade Sub rosa comes from the Latin, literally "under the rose," from the ancient association of the rose with confidentiality, the origin of which traces to a famous story in which Cupid gave Harpocrates, the god of silence, a rose to bribe him not to betray the confidence of Venus. Hence the ceilings of Roman banquet-rooms were decorated with roses to remind guests that what was spoken 'sub vino' (under the influence of wine) was also sub rosa. Mar 26, 2007

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‘sub rosa’ has been looked up 1903 times, loved by 3 people, added to 39 lists, commented on 3 times, and is not a valid Scrabble word.