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What is "hanky-panky"

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
hanky-panky
noun
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Worth may have been involved in some financial hanky-panky.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Instead of a warm and fuzzy public relations tour during campaign season, she now faces endless questions about supposed hanky-panky.
▪ It was a control on monetary hanky-panky, otherwise known as inflation.
▪ There must be some hanky-panky, Loewenthal surmised.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
hanky-panky

Hankey-pankey \Han"key-pan"key\, Hankey-pank \Han"key-pank`\(h[a^][ng]"k[y^]*p[a^][ng]"k[y^]), n. [Cf. Hocus-pocus.] [Also spelled hanky-panky.]

  1. Professional cant; the chatter of conjurers to divert attention from their tricks; hence, jugglery. [Colloq.]

  2. Illegal or unethical behavior, usually surreptitious; as, the boss got suspicious when profits seemed lower than expected, and hired an investigator to see if any hankey-pankey was going on. [Informal]

  3. Extramarital sexual relations, especially adultery.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
hanky-panky

also hanky panky, 1841, "trickery," British slang, possibly a variant of hoky-poky "deception, fraud," altered from hocus-pocus.

Wiktionary
hanky-panky

n. 1 mischievous behaviour, dishonest or shady activity. 2 sexual intercourse or other sexual activity, especially if illicit. 3 A debaucherous act; a sexual act that is considered inappropriate.

Usage examples of "hanky-panky".

After all, the authorities can always do as the Scottish Lord of Justiciary did in the Weinstein case: bring in a watchdog operant as an amicus curiae to be on the lookout for mental hanky-panky.

A certified check is much harder to play hanky-panky with than is a personal check, but Belle was a clever gal.