English · Idiom Historical

you're a sly dog

Preserved but no longer current.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

A playful way of saying, You pretend to be disinterested, but I can read between the lines.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Một cách chơi chữ nói bạn giả vờ không quan tâm nhưng thực chất có ý định

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Topics: Dogs Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “you're a sly dog” mean?

A playful way of saying, You pretend to be disinterested, but I can read between the lines.

Is “you're a sly dog” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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