slutht

An obsolete spelling of sleuth2. sluttery (slut'èr-i), n. [ He carried his gla e with him for his man to let him drink out of at the Duke of Albemarle's, where he intended to dine, though this he did to prevent sluttery . Pepys , Diary, Nov. 7, 1665. sluttish (slut'ish), a. [ sluttish ; slut + -ish1.] 1. Like a slut or what is characteristic of a slut; not neat or cleanly; dirty; devoid of tidine or neatne . Why is thy lord so sluttish , I thee pre ye, And is of power better cloth to be ye? Chaucer, Prol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 83. The people living as wretchedly as in the most impoverish'd parts of France, which they much resemble, being idle and sluttish . Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 7, 1654. 2. Belonging to or characteristic of a woman of loose behavior. [Rare.] Exce e is sluttish ; keepe the meane; for why? Vertue's clean conclave is sobriety. Herrick , Exce e. sluttishly (slut'ish-li), adv. [ sly, slie, sligh, slegh, sleigh, sleih, sley, sleez, slez, sclez (not found in AS.); = dexterous; appar. related to Sw. slug, sly, Dan. slug, slu, sly, = D. sluw = LG. slou (> G. schlau, dial. schlauch ), sly; perhaps (like G. verschlagen, cunning, sly, Icel. slægr, kicking, as a horse) from the root of slay1, AS. sleán (pret. slōh, pp. slōgon ), strike: see slay1, and cf. slug1. But the relations of these forms, and the orig. sense, are uncertain. Hence sleight2.] 1. Cunning; skilful; shrewd. IMG:content-1345.png:[blocks in formation] The captain (who heard all about it from his wife) was wondrous sly , I promise you, inquiring every time we met at table, as if in forgetfulne , whether she expected anybody to meet her at St. Louis. Dickens, American Notes, xii. 41. Artfully and delicately wrought; cunning; ingenious. And theryn was a towre fulle slyghe , That was bot he stronge and hyghe. MS . Cantab. Ff. ii. 38, f. 141. ( Hall i well .) 5t. Thin; fine; slight; slender. Two goodly Beacons, set in silver sockets bright, Cover'd with lids deviz'd of substance sly . Spenser, F. Q., II. ix. 46. 6. Illicit: as, sly grog (liquor made in illicit stills). [Slang.] A sly trade's always the best for paying, and for selling too. Mayhew , London Labour and London Poor, I. 318. On the sly, or sometimes by the sly, in a sly or secret manner; secretly. [Colloq.] She'll never again think me anything but a paltry pretense-too nice to take heaven except upon flattering conditions, and yet selling myself for any devil's change by the sly. George Eliot , Middle march, lxxviii. Sly goose. See goose . Syn, 1 and 2. Cunning , Artful , Sly, etc. (see cunning1 ).-3. Roguish, playful, waggish. sly-boots (sli'böts), n. [ sly + boots , frequent in similar compounds, as clumsy - boots , lazy boots , etc.] A sly, cunning, or waggish person: also applied to animals. [Humorous.] The frog called the lazy one several times, but in vain; there was no such thing as stirring him, though the sly boots heard well enough all the while. Add is on .