furtive

Adjective

furtive (comparative more furtive, superlative most furtive)

1. Of a thing: done with evasive or guilty secrecy.
   • […] The Defendant never vvas acknovvledged by the Sieur Harrouard’s Family, nor by that of his VVife. Thus, granting him to have been in Poſſeſſion of his Son’s Eſtate, it vvould only be a furtive and clandeſtine, not a public and avovved Poſſeſſion; and conſequently ſuch a Poſſeſſion as is...1744, [François Gayot de Pitaval], “The History of Charles-Francis Harrouard, whom His Father and Mother Disowned to be Their Son”, in [anonymous], transl., A Select Collection of Singular and...
   • [T]ender cares and mild domestic Loves, / With furtive watch, pursue her [a swan] as she moves; […]1787–1789, William Wordsworth, “An Evening Walk, Addressed to a Young Lady”, in Henry [Hope] Reed, editor, The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Philadelphia, Pa.: Hayes & Zell, […]...

   Synonyms:

   clandestine, surreptitious, abstruse, behind the scenes, catlike, backroom, backstairs, stealth, cloak-and-dagger, concealed

2. Of a thing: that has been acquired by theft; stolen; also (generally) taken stealthily.
   • Novv ſhine theſe Planets vvith ſubſtantial Rays? / Does innate Luſtre gild their meaſur'd Days? / Or do they (as your Schemes, I think, have ſhovvn) / Dart furtive Beams, and Glory not their ovvn, / All Servants to that Source of Light, the Sun?1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, book I (Knowledge), page...
3. Of a person or an animal: sly, stealthy.
   • All women have their foibles. Wise husbands must bear and forbear. Is that all? wherefore, then, is her aspect so furtive, wherefore on his a wild, vigilant sternness?1857, Pisistratus Caxton [pseudonym; Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter V, in What will He Do with It? (Collection of British Authors; CCCCXL), Tauchnitz edition, volume III, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz...
   • So, Riderhood looking after him as he went, and he with his furtive hand laid upon the dagger as he passed it, and his eyes upon the boat, were much upon a par.1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “Setting Traps”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1865, →OCLC, 4th book (A Turning), page 165

   Synonyms:

   thieflike, thievish

4. Of a person, etc.: inclined to steal; pilfering, thieving.

   Synonyms:

   thievish