1.
[syn: crafty, cunning, dodgy, foxy, guileful, knavish, slick, sly, tricksy, tricky, wily]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Sly \Sly\, a. [Compar. Slieror Slyer; superl. Sliest or
Slyest.] [OE. sli, slegh, sleih, Icel. sl?gr, for 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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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Sly \Sly\, adv.
Slyly. [Obs. or Poetic] --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
sly
adj 1: 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" [syn: crafty, cunning, dodgy,
foxy, guileful, knavish, slick, sly, tricksy,
tricky, wily]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
98 Moby Thesaurus words for "sly":
Byzantine, Machiavellian, Machiavellic, acute, adroit, arch,
artful, astute, back-door, backstairs, cagey, calculating, canny,
clandestine, clever, covert, crafty, creep, crooked, cunning, cute,
deceitful, deep, deep-laid, designing, devious, dexterous,
diplomatic, dishonest, disingenuous, downy, feline, foxy, furtive,
guileful, gumshoe, hidlings, hole-and-corner, hugger-mugger,
ingenious, insidious, inventive, knowing, lurk, masterful, pawky,
politic, predatory, privy, quiet, ready, resourceful, scheming,
serpentine, shady, sharp, shifty, shrewd, skulk, skulking, slick,
slide, slim, slink, slinking, slinky, slippery, smart, smooth,
snake, snaky, sneaking, sneaky, snook, sophistical, steal,
stealthy, strategic, subtile, subtle, supple, surreptitious,
tactical, trickish, tricksy, tricky, under-the-counter,
under-the-table, undercover, underground, underhand, underhanded,
unfrank, unobtrusive, unscrupulous, vulpine, wary, wily