Definition of On the sly

1. Adverb. In a furtive manner. "The soldiers were furtively crawling through the night"

Exact synonyms: Furtively
Partainyms: Furtive

Definition of On the sly

1. Adverb. (idiomatic) Slyly, in an inconspicuous manner, so as not to be seen; secretly; stealthily. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of On The Sly

on the rampage
on the receiving end
on the record
on the right track
on the rise
on the road
on the rocks
on the ropes
on the run
on the same page
on the same wavelength
on the shelf
on the side
on the skids
on the sly (current term)
on the spectrum
on the spot
on the spur of the moment
on the square
on the street
on the table
on the take
on the tap
on the tip of one's tongue
on the toss of a coin
on the town
on the trot
on the turps
on the up

Literary usage of On the sly

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Living Age by Making of America Project, Eliakim Littell, Robert S. Littell (1868)
"There are now no seances at which Bishops and Cabinet Ministers assist on the sly, and it requires something like an effort of the memory to recall, ..."

2. The British Quarterly Review by Robert Vaughan, Henry Allon (1869)
"... Mrs. but if not—and Mr. Mill does not even argue the question—be is really introducing on the sly an illegitimate element into his Utilitarian system, ..."

3. Wife No. 19, Or the Story of a Life in Bondage: Being a Complete Exposé of by Ann Eliza Young (1875)
"How Men get "Married on the Sly." — How Wives were Driven Crazy by their Wrongs. — My Father Marries Considerably. — He " Goes in " for the Hand-Cart Girls. ..."

4. Wife No. 19, Or the Story of a Life in Bondage: Being a Complete Exposé of by Ann Eliza Young (1875)
"How Men get " Married on the Sly." — How Wives were Driven Crazy by their Wrongs. — My Father Marries Considerably. — He " Goes in " for the Hand-Cart Girls ..."

5. Wife No. 19, Or the Story of a Life in Bondage by Ann Eliza Young, John Bartholomew Gough, Mary Ashton Rice Livermore (1876)
"How Men get " Married on the Sly." — How Wives were Driven Crazy by their Wrongs. — My Father Marries Considerably. ..."

6. South Eastern Reporter by West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, West Publishing Company, South Carolina Supreme Court (1913)
"... or intoxicating liquors are sold In violation of law "on the sly," not openly sold, but sold "on the sly," and that if the defendants sold spirituous, ..."

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