Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb In a foxy manner.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb in an artful manner

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word foxily.

Examples

  • I close with what Franklin so foxily said about the Reverend Whitefield, whose oral sermons were so fine but whose habit of writing them down exposed him to fierce textual criticism: "Opinions [delivered] in Preaching might have been afterwards explain'd, or qualify'd by supposing others that might have accompany'd them; or they might have been deny'd; But litera scripta manet."

    Free and Easy 2005

  • I close with what Franklin so foxily said about the Reverend Whitefield, whose oral sermons were so fine but whose habit of writing them down exposed him to fierce textual criticism: "Opinions [delivered] in Preaching might have been afterwards explain'd, or qualify'd by supposing others that might have accompany'd them; or they might have been deny'd; But litera scripta manet."

    Free and Easy 2005

  • The speaker, Peithon, was a short wiry man with a foxily pointed, rufous face and a sharp foxy bark.

    Funeral Games Renault, Mary, 1905-1983 1981

  • Seleukos had answered him in monosyllables; Peithon had looked foxily under his reddish brows and down his pointed nose, saying this or that, but none of what he thought; Archias, though known to be in camp, had not reported at all.

    Funeral Games Renault, Mary, 1905-1983 1981

  • He rubbed his eyes with his fingers a moment and then grinned foxily: "Ain't that enough?"

    In Our Town William Allen White 1906

  • As he was speaking Anicetus foxily let fall a dagger between his legs.

    Historic Tales, Volume 11 (of 15) The Romance of Reality Charles Morris 1877

  • Jill St John is a feisty, foxily feline Tiffany Case, invoking the chutzpah of the character from the novel.

    CommanderBond.net 2009

  • Anyways that’s the way it seems to me: social scientists, politically motivated, quickly become hedgehogs; meanwhile, contemporary professional philosophers are prone to operate foxily.

    » Kingwell vs. Florida? • Spacing Toronto • understanding the urban landscape 2008

  • And as he rode into London, it seemed to him as though some wise power put it into his heart what he should do; for he rode by the sign of a maker of rich glass for church windows; and at once a thought darted into his mind; and going in, he sought out the master of the shop, and told him that he had lost a jewel from a crown, a jewel of price, and that he was ashamed that the crown should lack it; and he asked if he could make him a jewel of glass to set in its place; and he described the jewel, how large it was and how dull outside, and its fiery heart; and the craftsman smiled shrewdly and foxily, and told him to return on the third day, and he should have his will.

    Paul the Minstrel and Other Stories Reprinted from The Hill of Trouble and The Isles of Sunset Arthur Christopher Benson 1893

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.