slinky
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See also: Slinky
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
slinky (comparative slinkier, superlative slinkiest)
- Furtive, stealthy or catlike.
- 1920 March – 1921 February, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter 19, in Indiscretions of Archie, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, publishers […], published 1921, →OCLC:
- “But of all the awful, second-rate girls I ever met, she’s the worst! […] She’s a sly, creepy, slinky, made-up, insincere vampire! She’s common! She’s awful! She’s a cat!”
- 2018 March 5, Brian Seibert, “Review: Tapping Out Some New World Rhythms”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
- The concert touched on all this. You could sense history in the various dances of the pianists’ left hands: the slinky syncopations of habanera; the manic but metronomic bounce, in swing, as if between two trampolines.
- (Northumbria, dated) Thin; lank; lean.
- 1836, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, The Clockmaker, volume 3, London: Richard Bentley, published 1843, page 163:
- Do you see that are tall, limber-timbered, slinky-lookin' man with the blue cloak and two long black cords a-hangin' from it with almighty big tassels a-danglin' to the eend[sic] of it like the lamp-rope there, a-carryin' part of the cloak folded on one arm like a Roman senator, and t'other arm kimber, with his hat cockaded military like?--well, that is General Conrad Corncob.
- 1871, Henry Holl, The Golden Bait, volume 3, page 9:
- "Oh--that," said Mrs. Savaker, jerking her head in the direction of the defunct exciseman; "that war my husband, and war thow't a gude likeness. But it's not. It's not half red enough, an a deal too slinky in the should for him."
- Of a garment: close-fitting; clingy.
- 2017 October 2, Jess Cartner-Morle, “Stella McCartney lays waste to disposable fashion in Paris”, in the Guardian[2]:
- The double-breasted blazer which is on every front row this season came with an elbow-length sleeve for spring, while jumpsuits, a signature of the label, came slinky and tailored or in a blowsier boiler suit silhouette.
Synonyms[edit]
- (furtive): sneaky, surreptitious; see also Thesaurus:covert
- (thin): lithe, willowy; see also Thesaurus:slender
- (of a garment): figure-hugging, snug; see also Thesaurus:close-fitting