WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Sly
Part of Speech : a.
Etymology : [OE. sli, slegh, sleih, Icel sl, for sl; 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.]
Definition : 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 (Zo?l.), the common sheldrake; -- so named from its craftiness.

Syn. -- Cunning; crafty; subtile; wily. See Cunning.

[Compar. Slier or Slyer; superl. Sliest or Slyest.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : Sly
Part of Speech : adv.
Definition : Defn: Slyly. [Obs. or Poetic] Spenser.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913