different between prowl vs slink

English

Etymology

From Middle English prollen, of unknown origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?a?l/

Verb

prowl (third-person singular simple present prowls, present participle prowling, simple past and past participle prowled)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To rove over, through, or about in a stealthy manner; especially, to search in, as for prey or booty.

   • He prowls each place, still in new colours decked.

   Watch the lioness prowling in the shrubbery for zebras.

   It's tough to sneak vandalism into Wikipedia as there are plenty of other users prowling the Recent Changes page.
2. (intransitive) To idle; to go about aimlessly.

   That dandy has nothing better to do than prowl around town all day in his pinstripe suit.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To collect by plunder.

   to prowl money

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

prowl (plural prowls)

1. (colloquial) The act of prowling.

   I'm going on a midnight prowl.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Smart to this entry?)

English

Etymology

From Middle English slynken, sclynken, from Old English slincan (“to creep; crawl”), from Proto-Germanic *slinkan? (“to creep; crawl”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleng-, *slenk- (“to turn; wind; twist”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel- (“to sneak; crawl”). Cognate with West Frisian slinke, Dutch slinken (“to shrink; shrivel”), Low German slinken, Swedish slinka (“to glide”). Compare also German schleichen (“to slink”). More at sleek.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sl??k/
• Rhymes: -??k

Verb

slink (third-person singular simple present slinks, present participle slinking, simple past and past participle slunk or slinked or slank)

1. (intransitive) To sneak about furtively.
   • c. 1607, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, Act IV, Scene 2,^[1]

     As we do turn our backs

     From our companion thrown into his grave,

     So his familiars to his buried fortunes

     Slink all away, leave their false vows with him,

     Like empty purses pick’d; and his poor self,

     A dedicated beggar to the air,

     With his disease of all-shunn’d poverty,

     Walks, like contempt, alone.

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 9^[2]

     Back to the thicket slunk the guilty serpent.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To give birth to an animal prematurely.

   a cow that slinks her calf

Translations

Noun

slink (countable and uncountable, plural slinks)

1. (countable) A furtive sneaking motion.
   • 1998, Beppie Noyes, Mosby, the Kennedy Center Cat (page 30)

     His slink became a stride; he held his tail high; his eyes began to look more curious than scared. But he was still cautious.

2. The young of an animal when born prematurely, especially a calf.
3. The meat of such a prematurely born animal.
4. (obsolete) A bastard child, one born out of wedlock.
5. (Britain, Scotland, dialect) A thievish fellow; a sneak.

Translations

Adjective

slink (comparative more slink, superlative most slink)

1. (Scotland) thin; lean

Anagrams

• kilns, links

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sl??k/
• Rhymes: -??k

Verb

slink

1. first-person singular present indicative of slinken
2. imperative of slinken

Anagrams

• links

Swedish

Verb

slink

1. imperative of slinka.