backroom boy
- noun
- Archaic
:
asesor oculto
- Many of the company's innovations were the work of its backroom boys rather than its executives.
Examples
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Though rarely seen in public, the backroom boy played a crucial role in every campaign victory.
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Although he never took the stage, the backroom boy was the mastermind behind the event's success.
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He found greater satisfaction as a backroom boy than being in the spotlight.
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A backroom boy is essential.
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Don't underestimate a backroom boy!
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Many successful projects rely on a backroom boy who handles the crucial technical details behind the scenes.
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The backroom boy advised the team on strategy, ensuring their decisions were informed by expert knowledge.
Synonyms
1
8.6
A person who gives expert advice to political leaders without an official job
1
8.9
A person who works secretly to influence decisions
How Influential
Surface Forms
Morphology
backroom + boy
The parts suggest a person associated with a 'back room' (i.e., working behind the scenes) and 'boy' as an informal label for a person, so a learner who knows the constituents could infer someone working out of sight. However, the specialized sense of a technical expert/adviser and the idiomatic, slightly ironic register are not fully predictable from the words alone and require cultural/usage knowledge.
Etymology
The noun backroom boy may come from the clear image of a person working in a back room out of sight, doing clever technical work while others are in front. That's why the phrase means 'an expert adviser who works behind the scenes'.