English Explanatory Dictionary

sly

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily.
  2. Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice
  3. Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy; subtle
  4. Light or delicate; slight; thin.
adv
  1. Slyly.
name
  1. A diminutive of the male given name Sylvester.
  2. A surname

Pronunciation

/slaɪ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sly.wav

Word forms

sly slier slyer sliest slyest sligh

Etymology

From Middle English sly, sley, sleigh, sleiȝ, from Old Norse slǿgr (“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”). Related to sleight, slay. In all likelihood, however, unrelated with Saterland Frisian slau (“sly, crafty”), Dutch sluw (“sly, cunning”), Low German slu (“sly, cunning”), German schlau (“clever, crafty”). Doublet of sleight and slöjd

Synonyms

artful crafty cunning knowing sharp shifty shrewd slim sly as a fox wily nimble skillful cautious

Derived words

by the sly on the sly sliness sly as a fox slyboots sly dog sly fox sly-grog slyish slyness unsly Sly syndrome
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