Link Centre Dictionary

sly

UK/slaɪ/ US/ˈslaɪ/ fairly common

adjective

1.

marked by skill in deception

  • “cunning men often pass for wise”
  • “deep political machinations”
  • “a foxy scheme”
  • “a slick evasive answer”
  • “sly as a fox”
  • “tricky Dick”
  • “a wily old attorney”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

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

Phrases

  • by the sly
  • on the sly
  • sly as a fox
  • sly dog
  • sly fox

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.