Definition of "under-the-counter" [under-the-counter]

• Transacted, given, or sold illicitly. (adverb)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Specialist erotica presses such as Circlet now give respectable publication and distribution to frank erotica, which would have been strictly under-the-counter stuff fifty years ago, and many paranormal romances include explicit erotic passages that would once have given librarians fits."
• "My stove is a Viking and I have under-the-counter refrigerator drawers, so when I get into my little U, I don't ever have to leave."
• "Little wonder that "The President's Daughter" became an under-the-counter best seller."