on the Q.T. | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic)Quietly; in asecretivemanner;clandestinely.1910,Harold MacGrath, chapter 12, inA Splendid Hazard:Will you be so kind as to impress him with the fact that this expedition ison the Q.T.? Not that I think he will say anythin'.1911,William MacLeod Raine, chapter 24, inMavericks:[R]ound up some of our friendson the q.t.Don't let Brill get a notion of what's in the air.1922February,James Joyce, “[Episode 8: Lestrygonians]”, inUlysses, Paris:Shakespeare and Company,[…],→OCLC:All kind of places are good for ads ... Got fellows to stick them up or stick himself for that matteron the q.t.running in to loosen a button. Fly by night.1962August 28,Jack Anderson, “Lobbyists Moan Over ‘Shakedown’”, inSarasota Journal, USA, retrieved 25 Aug. 2010, page 6:But most are cozy affairs, kept strictlyon the Q.T.Nothing is done in writing—no invitations, no tickets, just quiet phone calls.1997,LA Confidential:You heard it first here, dear readers... off the record, "on the Q.T.", and very Hush Hush.2005, 00:05:05 from the start, inBrokeback Mountain:Now, what I want is a camp tender to stay in the main camp, where the Forest Service says. But the herder is gonna pitch a pup tenton the Q.T.with the sheep and he's gonna sleep there.2007January 29,David Stout, “Ex-Bush Aide Contradicts Libby on C.I.A. Agent”, inNew York Times, retrieved 25 Aug. 2010:“This is hush-hush,” Mr. Fleischer recalled Mr. Libby as saying in effect. “This ison the Q.T.Not many people know about this.”

Examples:

EN: Let's take a little walk down the stem. We'd like to have a few words with you on the Q.T., huh?
ES: Vamos a dar un paseo... nos gustaría hablar contigo, Steve.
EN: I thought this was on the Q.T.
ES: Creía que sería confidencial.
EN: ♪ Oh, sir on the Q.T. ♪
ES: Señor, se lo diré en secreto
EN: I got it on the Q.T. from somebody who owes me.
ES: Tuve un soplo de alguien que me debía algo.
EN: Hush-Hush, off the record, on the Q.T.
ES: Secretísimo, extraoficialmente, entre nosotros.
EN: Well, because I thought I'd just keep it on the Q.T.
ES: Bueno, porque pensé dejarlo en secreto.
EN: Keeping it on the Q.T.
ES: Se guarda bajo llave.
EN: But keep it on the Q.T.
ES: Pero guarda tú esto.
EN: What about that fucking Tolliver buying up property on the Q.T., huh?
ES: ¿Qué tal ese maldito Tolliver...
EN: Like, a million, but keep things on the Q.T.
ES: Como, un millón, pero hay que mantenerlas en secreto.
EN: He insisted meeting on the Q.T. during his spin class.
ES: Insistió en que nos viéramos en su clase de bicicleta estática.
EN: I gave you those contacts on the Q.T.
ES: Te los di en secreto.
EN: I'll try to do this on the Q.T.
ES: Intentare hacerlo en el q-T
EN: We're trying to keep the thinking on the Q.T. So the owner doesn't get in trouble, so hard liquor is under booth 4.
ES: Estamos intentado mantener las bebidas escondidas para que el dueño no tenga problemas, así que el licor fuerte está bajo el reservado 4.
EN: That was the captain's aid. Said on the Q.T. It's sounding like the I.A. thing with Tammi, it's all just gonna disappear.
ES: Dijo, manteniendo el secreto, que parece que lo de Tammi en Asuntos Internos, parece que todo va a desaparecer.

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).