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["o]l.), the common sheldrake; -- so named
from its craftiness.
Syn: Cunning; crafty; subtile; wily. See {Cunning}.