stealth

From Old English *stælþ, from Proto-Germanic *stæliþō[1], equivalent to steal +‎ -th.

• enPR: stĕlth, IPA^(key): /stɛlθ/

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• Rhymes: -ɛlθ

stealth (countable and uncountable, plural stealths)

1. (uncountable) The attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy, or in such a way that the actions are unnoticed or difficult to detect by others.
2. (archaic, countable) An act of secrecy, especially one involving thievery.
   • 1877, George Hill, An Historical Account of the Plantation in Ulster at the Commencement of the Seventeenth Century, M'Caw, Stevenson & Orr, page 352:

     [The King] thinks it fit[...] that restitution according to this order be made to the petitioners for stealths committed upon them last winter (273).

• steal

stealth (third-person singular simple present stealths, present participle stealthing, simple past and past participle stealthed)

1. (military, computing) To conceal or infiltrate through the use of stealth.
2. (slang) To have sexual intercourse a sexual partner without a condom through deception (for example, to remove the condom mid-act).
   • 2017, “Stealthing”: Feminists open Pandora’s box of sexual assault double standards:

     “Stealthing” is an immoral behaviour practiced by both men and women, but only punishes men.

• Haslett, haltest, lasteth, salteth, stethal