Sly

Part of speech: adjective (a.)

1. Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble; skillful; cautious; shrewd; knowing; -- in a good sense. Be ye sly as serpents, and simple as doves. Wyclif (Matt. x. 16). Whom graver age And long experience hath made wise and sly. Fairfax.

2. Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily. For my sly wiles and subtle craftiness, The litle of the kingdom I possess. Spenser.

3. Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy; subtle; as, a sly trick. Envy works in a sly and imperceptible manner. I. Watts.

4. Light or delicate; slight; thin. [Obs.] 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 (Zoöl.), the common sheldrake; -- so named from its craftiness.

Synonyms: Cunning; crafty; subtile; wily. See Cunning.

Part of speech: adverb (adv.)

Slyly. [Obs. or Poetic] Spenser.