under the rose

Calque of Latin sub rosā.

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under the rose

1. (idiomatic) In secret; secretly, privately. [from 16th c.]
   • 1860, Ellen Wood, East Lynne, Penguin 2005, page 10:

     ‘If you become the purchaser of the East Lynne estate, Mr Carlyle, it must be under the rose.’

   • 1861, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, quoted by Fiona MacCarthy (2011) in The Last Pre-Raphaelite, Faber, →ISBN, page 130:

     We are organising (but this is quite under the rose as yet) a company for the production of furniture and decoration of all kinds, for the sale of which we are going to open an actual shop!