SLY

crafty, cunning, dodgy, foxy, guileful, knavish, slick, sly, tricksy, tricky, wily

(adjective) marked by skill in deception; “cunning men often pass for wise”; “deep political machinations”; “a foxy scheme”; “a slick evasive answer”; “sly as a fox”; “tricky Dick”; “a wily old attorney”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

sly (comparative slier or slyer, superlative sliest)

Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily.

(having a positive sense) Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice

Synonyms: nimble, skillful, cautious, shrewd

Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy; subtle

Light or delicate; slight; thin.

Synonyms

• artful

• cunning

• knowing

• sharp

• crafty

• shrewd

• shifty

• sly as a fox

• slim

• wily

• See also wily

Adverb

sly

Slyly.

Anagrams

• Lys, YLS, YLs, lys, syl-

Proper noun

Sly

A diminutive of the male given name Sylvester.

Anagrams

• Lys, YLS, YLs, lys, syl-

Source: Wiktionary


Sly, a. [Compar. Slier or Slyer; superl. Sliest or Slyest.] Etym: [OE. sli, slegh, sleih, Icel sl, for sl; akin to Sw. slug, Dan. slu, LG. slou, G. schlau; probably to E. slay, v.t.; cf. G. verschlagen sly. See Slay, v. t., and cf. Sleight.]

1. Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble; skillful; cautious; shrewd; knowing; -- in a good sense. Be ye sly as serpents, and simple as doves. Wyclif (Matt. x. 16). Whom graver age And long experience hath made wise and sly. Fairfax.

2. Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily. For my sly wiles and subtle craftiness, The litle of the kingdom I possess. Spenser.

3. Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy; subtle; as, a sly trick. Envy works in a sly and imperceptible manner. I. Watts.

4. Light or delicate; slight; thin. [Obs.] By the sly, or On the sly, in a sly or secret manner. [Colloq.] "Gazed on Hetty's charms by the sly." G. Eliot.

– Sly goose (Zoöl.), the common sheldrake; -- so named from its craftiness.

Syn.

– Cunning; crafty; subtile; wily. See Cunning.

Sly, adv.

Definition: Slyly. [Obs. or Poetic] Spenser.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

28 March 2024

HUDDLED

(adjective) crowded or massed together; “give me...your huddled masses”; “the huddled sheep turned their backs against the wind”


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