cahoots

To be working together in secret, often with an air of unseemliness. Those two have been whispering all day. I wonder what they're in cahoots about. I think all of those kids are in cahoots because they're all on the surveillance video from the night of the robbery.

Rur. in conspiracy with someone; in league with someone. The mayor is in cahoots with the construction company that got the contract for the new building. Those two have been in cahoots before.

working secretly with someone She was in cahoots with this guy who was smuggling drugs across the border.

agreeing to do something with someone else The accountant and the chairman were in league to hide the company's debts. I believe my children are in league with the devil!

to be secretly planning something together, especially something dishonest (usually + with ) There are theories that someone in the government was in cahoots with the assassin.

see under in league with.

Also, in cahoots with. In close cooperation or in partnership with, often secretly or in a conspiracy. For example, "For anybody on the road might be a robber, or in league with robbers" (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859), or We suspect that the mayor is in cahoots with the construction industry. The first term dates from the mid-1500s. The variant, a colloquialism dating from the early 1800s, may come from the French cahute, "a small hut or cabin," and may allude to the close quarters in such a dwelling.