sleuth

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Pronunciation 1.2 Etymology 1 1.2.1 Noun 1.2.1.1 Synonyms 1.2.1.2 Translations 1.2.2 Verb 1.2.2.1 Synonyms 1.2.2.2 Translations 1.3 Etymology 2 1.3.1 Noun 1.3.1.1 Synonyms 1.3.2 See also 1.4 Anagrams

[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /sljuːθ/, SAMPA: /slju:T/
• Rhymes: -uːθ

[edit] Etymology 1

From Old Norse slóð (Norwegian slo).

[edit] Noun

sleuth (plural sleuths)

1. (obsolete) An animal's trail or track.
2. (archaic) A sleuth-hound; a bloodhound.
3. A detective.
   • 1908, Edith Van Dyne (Frank L. Baum), Aunt Jane’s Nieces at Millville

     Do ye want me to become a sleuth, or engage detectives to track the objects of your erroneous philanthropy?

[edit] Synonyms

• detective

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

to sleuth (third-person singular simple present sleuths, present participle sleuthing, simple past and past participle sleuthed)

1. (intransitive) To act as a detective; to try to discover who committed a crime.
   • 1922, Agatha Christie, The Secret Adversary

     We must discover where he lives, what he does — sleuth him, in fact!

[edit] Synonyms

• shadow

[edit] Translations

[edit] Etymology 2

Old English slǣwþ, corresponding to slow + -th.

[edit] Noun

sleuth (plural sleuths)

1. (obsolete, uncountable) Slowness; laziness, sloth.
2. (rare) A collective term for a group of bears.
   • 1961, Noel Perrin, A Passport Secretly Green - Page 89

     As quietly as if I were practicing to join a sleuth of bears, I crept out the door and went on home, eventually winding up in the garage...

   • 1995, Bobbie Ann Mason, The Girl Sleuth - Page 13

     If these dainty adventurers weren't being chased by a sleuth of bears or bogeys, they were being captured by Gypsies or thieves.

   • 2007, Elinor De Wire, The Lightkeepers' Menagerie: Stories of Animals at Lighthouses - Page 200

     From the darkness came the howls of routs of wolves and bands of coyotes, the rumbling growls of a sleuth of bears or the bugles of a gang of elk.

[edit] Synonyms

• (sloth): idleness, inertia, laziness, lethargy, sloth, slothfulness
• (collective term for a group of bears): sloth

[edit] See also

• sloth
• Appendix:Animals

[edit] Anagrams

• Alphagram: ehlstu
• hustle