slyboots

• sly-boot
• sly-boots
• slyboot

sly +‎ boots

slyboots (plural slyboots)

1. (chiefly Britain) A person who is clever or shrewd, especially one who is stealthy, manipulative, and rather charming.
   • 1857, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Virginians, ch. 83:

     "Oh, you slyboots!" says the Countess. "Guess you come after the old lady's money!"

   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, episode 15:

     You're such a slyboots, old cocky. I could kiss you.

   • 2004, Umberto Eco, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, trans. Geoffrey Brock, Harvest/Harcourt (New York), p. 54:

     This slyboots took me for a ton of money, made me do whatever she wanted.

• artful dodger, con artist, operator, rogue