Search Result for "sly": 
Wordnet 3.0

ADJECTIVE (1)

1. marked by skill in deception;
- Example: "cunning men often pass for wise"
- Example: "deep political machinations"
- Example: "a foxy scheme"
- Example: "a slick evasive answer"
- Example: "sly as a fox"
- Example: "tricky Dick"
- Example: "a wily old attorney"
[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. [1913 Webster] Be ye sly as serpents, and simple as doves. --Wyclif (Matt. x. 16). [1913 Webster] Whom graver age And long experience hath made wise and sly. --Fairfax. [1913 Webster] 2. Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily. [1913 Webster] For my sly wiles and subtle craftiness, The litle of the kingdom I possess. --Spenser. [1913 Webster] 3. Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy; subtle; as, a sly trick. [1913 Webster] Envy works in a sly and imperceptible manner. --I. Watts. [1913 Webster] 4. Light or delicate; slight; thin. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] Syn: Cunning; crafty; subtile; wily. See Cunning. [1913 Webster]
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