sly Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite marked by skill in deception
    tricky; wily; knavish; slick; foxy; guileful; tricksy; dodgy; crafty; cunning.
    • 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

WordNet

Sly adjective
Etymology
OE. sli, slegh, sleih, Icel slgr, for slgr; akin to Sw. slug, Dan. slu, LG. slou, G. schlau; probably to E. slay, v.t.; cf. G. verschlagen sly. See Slay, v. t., and cf. Sleight.
Wordforms
comparative Slier or Slyer; superlative Sliest or Slyest
Definitions
  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. Syn. -- Cunning; crafty; subtile; wily. See Cunning.
Sly adverb
Definitions
  1. Slyly. Obs. or Poetic Spenser.

Webster 1913