Dictionary

slinky en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈslɪŋki/
• (US) audio

Etymology

From slink + -y.

Meanings

1. Furtive, stealthy or catlike.
   • “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!” 1920 March – 1921 February, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter 19, in Indiscretions of Archie, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published 1921, →OCLC:
   • 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. 2018 March 5, Brian Seibert, “Review: Tapping Out Some New World Rhythms”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
2. (Northumbria, dated) Thin; lank; lean.
   • "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 shouls for him." 1871, Henry Holl, The Golden Bait, volume 3, page 9:
   • 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. 1836, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, The Clockmaker, volume 3, London: Richard Bentley, published 1843, page 163:
3. Of a garment: close-fitting; clingy.
   • 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. 2017 October 2, Jess Cartner-Morle, “Stella McCartney lays waste to disposable fashion in Paris”, in the Guardian:

Forms

Deriveds

slinkily · slinkiness

Synonyms

sneaky (furtive) · snug · willowy · surreptitious · figure-hugging (of a garment) · lithe (thin)