on the sly

on the sly idiom
Furtively, secretly, as in She's always eating cookies on the sly. The adjective sly, which means “cunning” or “crafty,” is here used as a noun. [c. 1800]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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