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To be knowing; to have understanding; to be dexterous in performance. [Obs.] I can not skill of these thy ways. Herbert.

An artful trick; sly artifice; a feat so dexterous that the manner of performance escapes observation. The world hath many subtle sleights. Latimer.

Cunning; dexterous. [Obs.]

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.

A sly, dexterous, or ingenious procedure fitted to puzzle or amuse; as, a bear's tricks; a juggler's tricks.

whirl round; to move and turn rapidly with the fingers. See ruddy maids, Some taught with dexterous hand to twirl the wheel. Dodsley. No more beneath soft eve's consenting star Fandango twirls his jocund castanet. Byron.

Not feat; not dexterous; unskillful; clumsy. [Obs.] Sir P. Sidney.

Not gainly; not expert or dexterous; clumsy; awkward; uncouth; as, an ungainly strut in walking. His ungainly figure and eccentric manners. Macaulay.

Versed in art or science; skillful; dexterous; specifically, skilled in divination. Fal. There was, mine host, an old fat woman even now with me; but she's gone. Sim. Pray you, sir, was't not the wise woman of Brentford Shak.

Ready; dexterous; eager; lively; quick to move. [Obs.] "Be yare in thy preparation." Shak. The lesser [ship] will come and go, leave or take, and is yare; whereas the greater is slow. Sir W. Raleigh.