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

To move in a stealthy or secret manner; to move imperceptibly or clandestinely; to steal in; to insinuate itself or one's self; as, age creeps upon us. The sothistry which creeps into most of the books of argument. Locke. Of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women. 2. Tim. iii. 6.…

Characteristic of cats; sly; stealthy; treacherous; as, a feline nature; feline manners.

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

To rove over, through, or about in a stealthy manner; esp., to search in, as for prey or booty. He prowls each place, still in new colors decked. Sir P. Sidney.

To act in a stealthy and cowardly manner; to behave with meanness and servility; to crouch.

To walk slowly and cautiously; to walk in a stealthy, noiseless manner; -- sometimes used with a reflexive pronoun. Shak. Into the chamber he stalked him full still. Chaucer. [Bertran] stalks close behind her, like a witch's fiend, Pressing to be employed. Dryden.

Given to stealth; stealthy. [Obs.] -- Stealth"ful*ly, adv. [Obs.] -- Stealth"ful*ness, n. [Obs.]

In a stealthy manner.

The state, quality, or character of being stealthy; stealth.

Stealthy; sly. Wordsworth.

de by stealth, or without proper authority; made or introduced fraudulently; clandestine; stealthy; as, a surreptitious passage in an old manuscript; a surreptitious removal of goods. -- Sur`rep*ti"tious*ly, adv.

One of an association of robbers and murderers in India who practiced murder by stealthy approaches, and from religious motives. They have been nearly exterminated by the British government.

The practice of secret or stealthy murder by Thugs. "One of the suppressors of Thuggee." J. D. Hooker.

Noiseless; stealthy. "With tiptoe step." Cowper. Tiptoe mirth, the highest degree of mirth. Sir W. Scott.

also soft grass. -- Velvet runner (Zoöl.), the water rail; -- so called from its quiet, stealthy manner of running. [Prov. Eng.] -- Velvet scoter. (Zoöl.) Same as Velvet duck, above. -- Velvet sponge. (Zoöl.) See under Sponge.