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Stolen; obtained or characterized by stealth; sly; secret; stealthy; as, a furtive look. Prior. A hasty and furtive ceremony. Hallam.

Stealthily by theft. Lover.

en, sometimes with an implication of coquetry. Coy, and difficult to win. Cowper. Coy and furtive graces. W. Irving. Nor the coy maid, half willings to be pressed, Shall kiss the cup, to pass it to the rest. Goldsmith.

To advance slowly and furtively; to insinuate one's self; to advance or gain influence by servile or obsequious conduct. Secretly crawling up the battered walls. Knolles. Hath crawled into the favor of the king. Shak. Absurd opinions crawl about the world. South.

To hide, or get out of the way, in a sneaking manner; to lie close, or to move in a furtive way; to lurk. "Want skulks in holes and crevices." W. C. Bryant. Discovered and defeated of your prey, You skulked behind the fence, and sneaked away. Dryden.

, withdraw, enter, appear, intrude, or escape as if by sliding; to go or come in a quiet, furtive manner; as, some errors slipped into the work. Thus one tradesman slips away, To give his partner fairer play. Prior. Thrice the flitting shadow slipped away. Dryden.

To see or look obliquely, asquint, or awry, or with a furtive glance. Some can squint when they will. Bacon.

To withdraw or convey clandestinely (reflexive); hence, to creep furtively, or to insinuate. They could insinuate and steal themselves under the same by their humble carriage and submission. Spenser. He will steal himself into a man's favor. Shak.

By stealing, or as by stealing, furtively, or by an invisible motion. Sir P. Sidney.

Done by stealth; accomplished clandestinely; unperceived; secret; furtive; sly. [Withered murder] with his stealthy pace, . . . Moves like a ghost. Shak.