sleuth
English
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /sljuːθ/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /sluːθ/[1]
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /sluːθ/
- Rhymes: -uːθ
Etymology 1
Clipping of sleuthhound
Noun
sleuth (plural sleuths)
- 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?
- 1908, Edith Van Dyne (Frank L. Baum), Aunt Jane’s Nieces at Millville
- (archaic) A sleuth-hound; a bloodhound.
- (obsolete) An animal’s trail or track.
Synonyms
- (detective): detective, gumshoe, dick, private eye
Translations
bloodhound
|
detective
|
Verb
sleuth (third-person singular simple present sleuths, present participle sleuthing, simple past and past participle sleuthed)
- (intransitive, transitive) To act as a detective; to try to discover who committed a crime, or, more generally, to solve a mystery.
- 1922, Agatha Christie, The Secret Adversary
- We must discover where he lives, what he does — sleuth him, in fact!
- 1922, Agatha Christie, The Secret Adversary
Synonyms
Translations
detective
|
Etymology 2
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English slǣwþ, corresponding to slow + -th.
Noun
sleuth (plural sleuths)
- (obsolete, uncountable) Slowness; laziness, sloth.
- (rare) A collective term for a group of bears.
- 1961, Noel Perrin, A Passport Secretly Green, p.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, p.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, p.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.
- 1961, Noel Perrin, A Passport Secretly Green, p.89
Synonyms
- (sloth): idleness, inertia, laziness, lethargy, sloth, slothfulness
- (collective term for a group of bears): sloth
See also
References
Anagrams
Categories:
- English 1-syllable words
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- Rhymes:English/uːθ
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