characterized by insincerity or deceit; evasive; " a devious character"; " shifty eyes"

Full of, or ready with, shifts; fertile in expedients or contrivance.

Shiftiness.

Fertile in resources.

I have spoken of his gaze as " somewhat shifty," yet am not altogether sure that in that term I accurately describe it. – The-Darrow-Enigma by Severy, Melvin Linwood

Roeder owned cattle on a thousand hills, and made it a recruiting ground for his bellowing herds before beginning the long drive to market across a shifty desert. – The Land Of Little Rain by Mary Hunter Austin

He held Velo's shifty eyes. – Shelled by an Unseen Foe by James Fiske

With such a shifty message went M. de Seyssel to make it quite clear to Bentivogli what his position was. – The Life of Cesare Borgia by Raphael Sabatini

Garron had a bad record- you saw this in his small shifty black eyes, that evaded your own when you spoke to him, and were riveted upon you the moment your back was turned. – A Village of Vagabonds by F. Berkeley Smith

If you see that they're desperate, and dull, and shifty- looking, as so many of them are, it's certain to mean drink, or crime, or something unsatisfactory. – The Project Gutenberg Plays of John Galsworthy, Complete by John Galsworthy

He stopped with deliberation and stared at the unshaven face, at the shifty eyes and dirty linen. – Gargoyles by Ben Hecht

Who was that man with the shifty eyes? – The Bars of Iron by Ethel May Dell

His averted, almost shifty, eyes seemed to hold her attention. – The Law-Breakers by Ridgwell Cullum

The shifty moon- glimmer and the yellow glow of the lamp showed Hamilton to what an extent his devilish cruelty hurt her, and somehow it chilled him as if by reflection; but he could not forego another thrust. – Alice of Old Vincennes by Maurice Thompson

His eyes were keen and shifty; his teeth had acquired the habit of clutching his fat black cigar viciously while he snarled his rather loose lips about them in conversation. – The Witness by Grace Livingston Hill Lutz

Whither is a flighty head and a shifty will carrying the girl?" – The Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith by George Meredith

I heard Jerry laugh and Shifty Dick swear a whole mouthful of oaths. – The Queen of Hearts by Wilkie Collins Last Updated: January 3, 2009

The latter's shifty eyes could not meet the steady gaze of the lad and he looked away, but kept Jack covered with his revolver. – The Boy Allies Under the Sea by Robert L. Drake

There is none of the shifty look about his eyes that one generally sees in criminals, no glancing from side to side; he rode with the air of a man who had a right to be where he was, and feared no one. – Colonel Thorndyke's Secret by G. A. Henty

His eyes were wild and shifty as a wolf's. – The Girl Aviators' Motor Butterfly by Margaret Burnham

Panzani's mission to England falls about midway between the domestic storms which had troubled the early days of the royal marriage, and the Revolution which finally cost the most shifty of monarchs his throne and his life. – Studies from Court and Cloister by J.M. Stone