slinky

adj

1. Furtive, stealthy or catlike.

   ““But of all the awful, second-rate girls I ever met, she’s the worst! […] She’s a sly, creepy, slinky, made-up, insincere vampire! She’s common! She’s awful! She’s a cat!””

   “The concert touched on all this. You could sense history in the various dances of the pianists’ left hands: the slinky syncopations of habanera; the manic but metronomic bounce, in swing, as if between two trampolines.”

2. (Northumbria, dated)Thin; lank; lean.

   “Do you see that are tall, limber-timbered, slinky-lookin' man with the blue cloak and two long black cords a-hangin' from it with almighty big tassels a-danglin' to the eend^([sic]) of it like the lamp-rope there, a-carryin' part of the cloak folded on one arm like a Roman senator, and t'other arm kimber, with his hat cockaded military like?--well, that is General Conrad Corncob.”

   “"Oh—that," said Mrs. Savaker, jerking her head in the direction of the defunct exciseman; "that war my husband, and war thow't a gude likeness. But it's not. It's not half red enough, an' a deal too slinky in the shouls for him."”

3. Of a garment: close-fitting; clingy.

   “The double-breasted blazer which is on every front row this season came with an elbow-length sleeve for spring, while jumpsuits, a signature of the label, came slinky and tailored or in a blowsier boiler suit silhouette.”

noun

1. A toy in the form of a loose metal (originally) or plastic spring that can be made to "walk" down stairs as its coils separate and close up.