cloak-and-daggery

noun

Espionage, secrecy.

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Meanings

nouncloak-and-daggery (uncountable)
  1. uncountableEspionage, secrecy.

    [Richard] Moore's climb to the pinnacle of British cloak-and-daggery is a measure of the curious intimacy that sits alongside the ancient enmities that have often described Anglo-Irish relations.

    2025 August 15, Philip Stephens, “Ireland’s ‘British question’”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1

Origin

cloak-and-dagger + -y

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

cloak-and-daggery. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cloak-and-daggery

MLA

“cloak-and-daggery.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cloak-and-daggery. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cloak-and-daggery,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cloak-and-daggery.

Source: cloak-and-daggery on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.