I. ˈslī adjective
( slier also slyer -ī(ə)r, -īə ; sliest also slyest -īə̇st)
Etymology: Middle English sli, sleih, slegh, from Old Norse slœgr sly, crafty; akin to Old Norse slā to strike, beat — more at slay
1. chiefly dialect
a. : wise in practical affairs : canny , shrewd
has a deal to say in his sly , dry, sententious, proverb way — Robert Burns
b. : displaying cleverness : ingenious
with sly skill — Edmund Spenser
2.
a. : artfully cunning : subtle in deceit : crafty , guileful , wily
a sly fox
a sly action
a sly scheme
by sly enticement gives his baneful cup — John Milton
had played … many a sly trick — Lyle Saxon
a sly way of prodding sales — Business Week
b. : trickily secret : secretive , furtive
he's a sly one — had it up his sleeve all the time
a sly answer
a sly glance
you have been very sly , very reserved with me — Jane Austen
3. : lightly artful or mischievous : arch , roguish
sly jests
a sly wit
churchmen, when off duty, were not averse to sly irreverences — G.F.Whicher
4. chiefly Australia : carried on or sold clandestinely or illegally : illicit , bootleg
a sly trade
selling sly grog to the convicts — Colin Simpson
Synonyms:
cunning , crafty , tricky , foxy , insidious , guileful , wily , artful : sly suggests devious, furtive, or secretive lack of candor or underhandedness
the sly attack which undermines faith in our allies and among ourselves — Dean Acheson
sly fellows to be watched — A.C.Whitehead
cunning may apply to an overreaching, circumventing, or evading often by one of low intelligence and usually by secret or devious means
he's always slipping out at night. They're cunning as the devil, these naturals — Dorothy Sayers
looked up with a cunning smile. “A servant can always know his master's secrets if he likes” — Charles Kingsley
crafty may describe adroitness at deceptive scheme and stratagem along with chary caution
the Nazi insanity turned this mild man of conscience into a crafty plotter, collector of illegal funds, traffic manager of nocturnal convoys, distributor of forged passports — Hal Lehrman
as truculent, as relentless in the fight, as crafty in legal subterfuge as the Erie men themselves — Matthew Josephson
tricky may indicate shifty chicanery
beneath all this glitter of chivalry lay the subtle, busy diplomatist … to all who dealt with him he was equally false and tricky — J.R.Green
he avoided the mean and tricky: he was always an honorable foe — W.C.Ford
foxy may suggest practised, wary shrewdness
concealment of his partnership in the Ballantyne firm and the publishing of many of his works either anonymously or under varied pseudonyms reveal a strain of foxy secretiveness — Edgar Johnson
insidious may apply to carefully masked underhandedness
with the insidious undermining of respect for law and government, the vicious conception of republicanism made its appearance — V.L.Parrington
guileful and wily describe what is habitually marked by treacherous cunning or astute stratagem unctuously concealed
nor trust in the guileful heart and the murder-loving hand — William Morris
mistaking the light for a beacon, ships were lured to the treacherous reefs, there to be boarded and looted by the wily shoremen — American Guide Series: North Carolina
artful may apply to calculating crafty deception employing the indirect or factitious
if you can keep her from drink, but you can't keep her; she's that artful she'll get it under your very eyes, without you knowing it — Samuel Butler †1902
as workingmen, under artful urging, began to blame the Chinese for all their wrongs — American Guide Series: California
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- on the sly
II. intransitive verb
( slied ; slied ; slying ; slies )
: to move slyly ; especially : slip , slink — usually used with out
ready to sly out the alley door, bent double — Everybody's Magazine
III. abbreviation
sloppy