Category:Sly

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 Sly, adv.

Defn: slyly. [obs. or poetic] spenser.