From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbackhanderback‧hand‧er /ˈbækhændə $ -ər/ noun [countable] 1 DSHITa hit or shot that you do using the back of your hand2 SCCMONEY British English informal money that you pay illegally and secretly to get something done SYN bribe Investigators estimate that £35m had been spent on bribes and backhanders.
Examples from the Corpus
backhander• Perhaps the landlord's getting a backhander from the estate agent.• There's some suggestion that a backhander was involved.• Fifty pounds has already gone in backhanders to the guys in the security office.• Messier took off on the breakaway with Jozef Stumpel chasing him and beat Ranford with a top-shelf backhander.From Longman Business Dictionarybackhanderback‧hand‧er /ˈbækhændə-ər/ noun [countable] British English informal an amount of money or something valuable that someone gives you to persuade you to help them or do something dishonest for themSYNBRIBEA former Ministry of Defence worker has been found guilty of accepting £1.5 million in backhanders from arms companies. 