Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
slyboots. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
slyboots, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
slyboots in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
slyboots you have here. The definition of the word
slyboots will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
slyboots, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From sly + boots.
Noun
slyboots (plural slyboots)
- (chiefly British) A person who is clever or shrewd, especially one who is stealthy, manipulative, and rather charming.
- Synonyms: artful dodger, con artist, operator, rogue
1838 July 24, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Literary Ethics. An Oration Delivered before the Literary Societies of Dartmouth College, July 24, 1838”, in J E Cabot, editor, Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Emerson’s Complete Works; I), Riverside edition, London: The Waverley Book Company, published 1883, →OCLC, page 166:But Truth is such a flyaway, such a slyboots, so untransportable and unbarrelable a commodity, that it is as bad to catch as light.
1858–1859, W M Thackeray, “Troubles and Consolations”, in The Virginians. A Tale of the Last Century, volume II, London: Bradbury & Evans, , published 1859, →OCLC, page 283:"Oh, you sly-boots!" says the Countess. "Guess you come after the old lady's money!"
2000 April 4, Chris Sheridan, “If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'”, in Family Guy, season 2, episode 9:Peter: All we gotta do is tell a little white lie. Just go with it. [dials phone] Is this the Grant-a-Dream Foundation? My son Chris is dying!
Chris: Holy crap, no! Oh, my God!
Peter: That was the lie.
Chris: Oh, you slyboots.
- 2004, Umberto Eco, Geoffrey Brock, transl., The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, New York, N.Y.: Harvest/Harcourt, page 54:
- This slyboots took me for a ton of money, made me do whatever she wanted.
2015 November 1, Hendrik Hertzberg, “That G.O.P. Debate: Two Footnotes”, in The New Yorker:Cruz was obviously analogizing Bernie Sanders to the Bolsheviks and Hillary Clinton to the Mensheviks. The oleaginous Texan is an erudite slyboots, but his history is off-kilter.
Translations