Surreptitious

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Surreptitious \Sur`rep*ti"tious\, a. [L. surreptitius, or
     subreptitius, fr. surripere, subripere, to snatch away, to
     withdraw privily; sub- under + rapere to snatch. See {Sub-},
     and {Ravish}.]
     Done or made 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.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  surreptitious
       adj 1: marked by quiet and caution and secrecy; taking pains to
              avoid being observed; "a furtive manner"; "a lurking
              prowler"; "a sneak attack"; "stealthy footsteps"; "a
              surreptitious glance at his watch"; "someone skulking
              in the shadows" [syn: {furtive}, {lurking}, {skulking},
               {sneak(a)}, {sneaky}, {stealthy}]
       2: conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods;
          "clandestine intelligence operations"; "cloak-and-dagger
          activities behind enemy lines"; "hole-and-corner
          intrigue"; "secret missions"; "a secret agent"; "secret
          sales of arms"; "surreptitious mobilization of troops";
          "an undercover investigation"; "underground resistance"
          [syn: {clandestine}, {cloak-and-dagger}, {hole-and-corner(a)},
           {hugger-mugger}, {hush-hush}, {on the quiet(p)}, {secret},
           {undercover}, {underground}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  70 Moby Thesaurus words for "surreptitious":
     artful, back-door, backstairs, calculating, chiseling, clandestine,
     collusive, concealed, covert, covinous, crafty, cunning, deceitful,
     doggo, false, falsehearted, feline, finagling, fraudulent, furtive,
     guileful, hidden, hidden out, hidlings, hole-and-corner,
     hugger-mugger, hush-hush, in ambush, in hiding, in the wings,
     indirect, insidious, lurking, on the sly, on tiptoe, private,
     privy, prowling, pussyfoot, pussyfooted, quiet, scheming, secret,
     secretive, sharp, shifty, skulking, slinking, slinky, slippery,
     sly, sneaking, sneaky, stealing, stealthy, treacherous, trickish,
     tricky, two-faced, under cover, under-the-counter, under-the-table,
     undercover, underground, underhand, underhanded, unobtrusive,
     veiled, waiting concealed, wily
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  SURREPTITIOUS. That which is done in a fraudulent stealthy manner.