sly

• sligh (obsolete)

From Middle English sly, sley, sleigh, sleiȝ, from Old Norse slǿgr (“sly, cunning”, literally “capable of hitting or striking”), from Proto-Germanic *slōgiz (“lively, agile, cunning, sly, striking”), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, throw”). Cognate with Icelandic slægur (“crafty, sly”), Norwegian Nynorsk sløg (“sly”). Related to sleight, slay. In all likelihood, however, unrelated with Saterland Frisian slau (“sly, crafty”), Dutch sluw (“sly, cunning”), Low German slu (“sly, cunning”), German schlau (“clever, crafty”).

• IPA^(key): /slaɪ/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ

sly (comparative slier or slyer, superlative sliest or slyest)

1. Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily.
2. (having a positive connotation) Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice

   Synonyms: nimble, skillful, cautious, shrewd

3. Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy; subtle

   a sly trick

4. Light or delicate; slight; thin.

• See also Thesaurus:wily

• sly in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• sly in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

sly

1. Slyly.

• Lys, YLS, YLs, lys, syl-

sly

1. Obsolete spelling of zły (“bad, evil”)

• scle, scley, scliȝ, slegh, sleȝ, slei, sleigh, sleiȝ, sleiȝh, sley, sleygh, sleyh, sligh, sliȝ, slih, slygh, slyȝ, slyȝh, slyh

Borrowed from Old Norse slǿgr, from Proto-Germanic *slōgiz.

• IPA^(key): /sliː(x)/, /sleː(x)/, /slix/

sly (plural and weak singular slye, comparative slyer, superlative sliest)

1. Judicious, considered, shrewd; having or indicative of great wisdom.
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, Matheu 10:35, page 4v, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     lo I ſende ȝou as ſcheep in þe myddil of wolues / þerfoꝛ be ȝe ſliȝ as ſerpentis .· and ſymple as dowues

     So I'm sending you out like sheep in amongst wolves, so be shrewd like snakes and harmless like doves.

2. Adept, expert, quality; having or indicative of great expertise.
3. Sly, artful, wily; employing or being an example of deception.
4. (rare) Attractive; having good looks.
5. (rare) Unknown or hidden.

• sleighly
• sleighte
• slynesse

• English: sly
• Scots: slee

• “sleigh, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-06-05.

sly n

1. very young trees, in particular while growing very densely

• lys, syl, yls