As of 2019, Starbucks opens a new store every 15 hours in China. The coffee chain has grown by 700% over the past decade.
FURTIVE
backstair, backstairs, furtive
(adjective) secret and sly or sordid; “backstairs gossip”; “his low backstairs cunning”- A.L.Guerard; “backstairs intimacies”; “furtive behavior”
furtive, sneak, sneaky, stealthy, surreptitious
(adjective) marked by quiet and caution and secrecy; taking pains to avoid being observed; “a furtive manner”; “a sneak attack”; “stealthy footsteps”; “a surreptitious glance at his watch”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adjective
furtive (comparative more furtive, superlative most furtive)
Stealthy.
Exhibiting guilty or evasive secrecy.
Synonyms
• (stealthy): surreptitious
• See also covert
Source: Wiktionary
Fur"tive, a. Etym: [L. furtivus, fr. furtum theft, fr. fur thief, akin to ferre to bear: cf. F. furtif. See Fertile.]
Definition: Stolen; obtained or characterized by stealth; sly; secret; stealthy; as, a furtive look. Prior. A hasty and furtive ceremony. Hallam.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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Word of the Day
19 June 2025
ROOTS
(noun) the condition of belonging to a particular place or group by virtue of social or ethnic or cultural lineage; “his roots in Texas go back a long way”; “he went back to Sweden to search for his roots”; “his music has African roots”
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