different between furtively vs slink

English

Etymology

From furtive +? -ly.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?f??t?vli/

Adverb

furtively (comparative more furtively, superlative most furtively)

1. In a furtive manner.

Synonyms

• secretively
• surreptitiously

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English slynken, sclynken, from Old English slincan (“to creep; crawl”), from Proto-Germanic *slinkan? (“to creep; crawl”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleng-, *slenk- (“to turn; wind; twist”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel- (“to sneak; crawl”). Cognate with West Frisian slinke, Dutch slinken (“to shrink; shrivel”), Low German slinken, Swedish slinka (“to glide”). Compare also German schleichen (“to slink”). More at sleek.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sl??k/
• Rhymes: -??k

Verb

slink (third-person singular simple present slinks, present participle slinking, simple past and past participle slunk or slinked or slank)

1. (intransitive) To sneak about furtively.
   • c. 1607, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, Act IV, Scene 2,^[1]

     As we do turn our backs

     From our companion thrown into his grave,

     So his familiars to his buried fortunes

     Slink all away, leave their false vows with him,

     Like empty purses pick’d; and his poor self,

     A dedicated beggar to the air,

     With his disease of all-shunn’d poverty,

     Walks, like contempt, alone.

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 9^[2]

     Back to the thicket slunk the guilty serpent.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To give birth to an animal prematurely.

   a cow that slinks her calf

Translations

Noun

slink (countable and uncountable, plural slinks)

1. (countable) A furtive sneaking motion.
   • 1998, Beppie Noyes, Mosby, the Kennedy Center Cat (page 30)

     His slink became a stride; he held his tail high; his eyes began to look more curious than scared. But he was still cautious.

2. The young of an animal when born prematurely, especially a calf.
3. The meat of such a prematurely born animal.
4. (obsolete) A bastard child, one born out of wedlock.
5. (Britain, Scotland, dialect) A thievish fellow; a sneak.

Translations

Adjective

slink (comparative more slink, superlative most slink)

1. (Scotland) thin; lean

Anagrams

• kilns, links

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sl??k/
• Rhymes: -??k

Verb

slink

1. first-person singular present indicative of slinken
2. imperative of slinken

Anagrams

• links

Swedish

Verb

slink

1. imperative of slinka.