cloak-and-dagger

Meaning

Adjective

• Marked by menacing furtive secrecy, often with a melodramatic tint or espionage involved.

Origin

• ; first attested 1840. The French term referred to a genre of drama in which the main characters wore cloaks and had swords. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow used the “cloak and sword” term in 1840, whereas Charles Dickens preferred “cloak and dagger” a year later.