— stealthful , adj. — stealthfully , adv. — stealthless , adj.
/stelth/ , n.
1. secret, clandestine, or surreptitious procedure.
2. a furtive departure or entrance.
3. Obs.
a. an act of stealing; theft.
b. the thing stolen; booty.
4. ( cap. ) Mil. a U.S. Air Force project involving a range of technologies, with the purpose of developing aircraft that are difficult to detect by sight, sound, radar, and infrared energy.
adj.
5. surreptitious; secret; not openly acknowledged: a stealth hiring of the competitor's CEO; the stealth issue of the Presidential race.
[ 1200-50; ME stelthe; cf. OE staelthing theft. See STEAL, -TH 1 ]