Sly Definition
slī
slier, sliest, slyer, slyest
adjective
slier, slyer, slyest, sliest
Skillful or clever.
Webster's New World
Skillful at trickery or deceit; crafty; wily.
Webster's New World
Stealthy or surreptitious.
Took a sly look at the letter on the table.
American Heritage
Showing a secretive, crafty, or wily nature; cunningly underhanded.
Webster's New World
Mischievous in a playful way; roguish.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
adverb
Wiktionary
idiom
on the sly
- In a way intended to escape notice:
took extra payments on the sly.
American Heritage
on the sly
- secretly; stealthily
Webster's New World
Other Word Forms of Sly
Adjective
Base Form:
sly
Comparative:
slier
Superlative:
sliestIdioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Sly
Origin of Sly
-
From Middle English sly, sley, from Old Norse slÇ£gr, slÅ“gr (“sly, cunning", literally “capable of hitting or striking"), from Proto-Germanic *slōgiz (“lively, agile, cunning, sly, striking"), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, throw"). Cognate with Icelandic slægur (“crafty, sly"), Norwegian Nynorsk sløg (“sly"), German schlau (“clever, crafty"). Related to sleight, slay.
From Wiktionary
Middle English sleigh from Old Norse slœgr
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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