a. poet. [f. STEALTH + -FUL.] Stealthy. Hence Stealthfully adv.; † Stealthfulness. rare.
c. 1624. Chapman, Hymn to Hermes, 373. And no such stealthfull ill Her light hath showne me.
1796. J. Bidlake, in New Ann. Reg., 155. Almeria … wip’d in haste, a stealthful tear unseen.
1822. Milman, Martyr of Antioch, 26. Evening darkens round my stealthful steps.
1828. Webster, Stealthfully, Stealthfulness.
a. 1838. A. Laing, in D. H. Edwards, Edzell & Glenesk (1908), 59.
| Lang time they faucht in doubtfu’ strife, | |
| Till Peathaugh, stealthfully, | |
| Hamstrung M‘Gregor unawares, | |
| And drave him on his knee. |
1878. Mrs. Harriet Lewis, in N. Z. Herald, 30 March, 5/8. His valet came in softly and with the peculiar stealthfulness that distinguished his movements.
