Sly
From Slyness
- Sly \Sly\, a. [Compar. {Slier}or {Slyer}; superl. {Sliest} or {Slyest}.] [OE. sli, slegh, sleih, Icel. sl?gr, or sl?gr; 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.
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- Be ye sly as serpents, and simple as doves. --Wyclif
- (Matt. x. 16).
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- Whom graver age
- And long experience hath made wise and sly.
- --Fairfax.
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- 2. Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily.
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- For my sly wiles and subtle craftiness,
- The litle of the kingdom I possess. --Spenser.
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- 3. Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy;
- subtle; as, a sly trick.
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- Envy works in a sly and imperceptible manner. --I.
- Watts.
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- 4. Light or delicate; slight; thin. [Obs.]
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- {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} (Zool.), the common sheldrake; -- so named from
- its craftiness.
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- Syn: Cunning; crafty; subtile; wily. See {Cunning}.
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- -- From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
- Sly \Sly\, adv.
- Slyly. [Obs. or Poetic] --Spenser.
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- -- From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
