sly

See also: Sly

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for sly in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English sly, sley, from Old Norse slǣgr, slœgr (“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”), Saterland Frisian slau (“sly, crafty”), Dutch sluw (“sly, cunning”), Low German slu (“sly, cunning”), German schlau (“clever, crafty”). Related to sleight, slay.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /slaɪ/
  • Rhymes: -aɪ

Adjective

sly (comparative slier or slyer, superlative sliest or slyest)

  1. Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily.
  2. (having a positive sense) Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice
    Synonyms: nimble, skillful, cautious, shrewd
  3. Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy; subtle
    a sly trick
  4. Light or delicate; slight; thin.

Synonyms

Derived terms
Terms derived from sly

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Further reading
  • sly in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
  • sly in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Adverb

sly

  1. Slyly.

Anagrams

Lower Sorbian

Adjective

sly

  1. Obsolete spelling of zły (“bad, evil”)

Swedish

Noun

sly n

  1. very young trees, in particular while growing very densely

Declension
Declension of sly 
Uncountable
Indefinite Definite
Nominative sly slyet — —
Genitive slys slyets — —
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