Sly (?), a. [Compar. Slier (?) or Slyer; superl. Sliest or Slyest.] [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.]
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, ∨ On the sly, in a sly or secret manner. [Colloq.] "Gazed on Hetty's charms by the sly." G. Eliot. -- Sly goose Zool., the common sheldrake; -- so named from its craftiness.
Syn. -- Cunning; crafty; subtile; wily. See Cunning.
© Webster 1913.
Sly, adv.
Slyly.
[Obs. or Poetic]
Spenser.
© Webster 1913.